‘Fear of missing out’ linked to alcohol harm in students

University students who suffer FoMO are more likely to feel bad after a boozy night out, feel they said embarrassing things, or acted impulsively to later regret their actions.

University experts said the condition refers to a sense of uneasiness and anxiety that everyone is having fun without you, and you're losing out on something rewarding.

In their study published in the Annals of Neuroscience and Psychology, researchers said psychologists already know that people with FOMO are more likely to overuse social media, to the extent the first thing they do when waking up is check Facebook.

The research, thought to be one of the first in the area, used two separate experiments involving 432 students.

Today another study has appeared to make us examine the depths of our psyches and wonder what our lives are coming to.

The "fear of missing out" (FOMO) has been linked to alcohol and alcohol-related issues, new data from University of Otago psychology researchers suggests. The second saw them answer questions on their alcohol consumption on a daily basis over 14 days.

The 10-item FoMO scale asked participants how strongly they agreed with statements such as "when I miss out on a planned get-together it bothers me", and "I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me". Additionally, they were more likely to have had "less energy", "had a hangover", or have 'not remembered stretches of the night, ' Ms Flett says.

Department of Psychology PhD candidate and study co-author Jayde Flett says that those who scored highly on the FoMO scale reported twice as many instances of alcohol-related negative consequences over the past three months than those low in the trait.

'In both studies, participants higher in FoMO were more likely to have reported "feeling badly about myself", having "said embarrassing things", or "done impulsive things that (they) later regretted" when drinking, ' she said.

In the second study, which had a broader sample than the first, those higher in FOMO were more likely to have "taken foolish risks when drinking", "become rude or obnoxious", and "drunk alcohol on nights that they had not planned".

Ms Flett and her co-authors said the study showed it might be important to address social factors such as FOMO in order to reduce alcohol-related harm among the student population.

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