The Influence of Fear of Missing out (FOMO) on Academic Burnout: Mediating Role of Social Media and Moderating Role of Age and Gender

Abstract

Over the last few decades, social media has emerged as a potent global communication tool that serves a pivotal function in facilitating instantaneous connections among individuals across diverse geographical locations. The adverse impacts of social media have resulted in a deterioration of offline interpersonal relationships' quality. Studies have demonstrated the significant ramifications of the fear of missing out (FoMO) and its correlation with adverse social media usage, including but not limited to anxiety, depression, compulsive social media engagement, low life satisfaction, negative emotions, declined physical, mental, and psychological well-being, reduced relationship quality, poorer work performance, procrastination, loneliness, academic failure, and a lack of personal interconnection and competency. Many of these tendencies become more pronounced over time. The present study aims to examine the potential influence of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) on academic burnout, with social media serving as a mediator. The proposed model is based on several established theories, including the self-determination theory (SDT), the belongness theory, the theory of compensatory Internet usage (TCIU), and the distraction-conflict theory. The model was tested using cross-sectional data sets consisting of university students. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to conduct an empirical examination of the existing research hypotheses and to assess the research model's validity and reliability. Based on the results, it was determined that with the exception of one hypothesis, all others were validated. Our findings indicate a negligible correlation between Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and academic burnout. The analysis has confirmed the hypothesis that social media serves as a complete mediator in the correlation between FOMO and academic burnout. We assess the suggested associations to enhance our comprehension of the impact of FOMO and certain precursors of academic burnout that are linked to social media. Therefore, we conducted an investigation into the empirical (both direct and indirect) connections between FOMO and social media intensity, compulsive social media usage, and social media fatigue. We anticipated that these factors would ultimately result in academic burnout experienced by students. Eight hypotheses were tested to determine their direct effects. Out of these, seven received complete support, whereas only one did not.