The Online Fear of Missing Out Inventory (ON-FoMO): Development and Validation of a New Tool

Fear of missing out (FoMO) refers to a need for interacting with other people and staying connected to what they are doing, a concept that is increasingly linked to the use of online social media (“OSM,” e.g., Facebook). The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a brief inventory of modern OSM-related FoMO—the Online Fear of Missing Out inventory or “ON-FoMO.” Participants were 405 community adults who took an online survey questionnaire ( M = 29.06 years, SD = 8.11). As expected, a robust factor analysis revealed that our ON-FoMO captures four distinct core dimensions of FoMO among users of OSM: need to belong, need for popularity, anxiety, and addiction. A scale total score was also granted by a bi-factor analysis. Supporting the convergent validity of our I-FoMO, the scale correlated highly with the FoMOs, the main instrument used in studies in the area, as well as with other assessments of smartphone and social media dependence. Associations with low life satisfaction, depression, and attempted suicide were also found. Future studies should focus on establishing the more subtle differences between broad and specific (online) FoMO and the discriminant validity of the ON-FoMO.