As the pace of life online and offline become increasingly inter-
twined, people are advantaged by, and sometimes struggle with,
increasingly rich opportun ities for interaction and leisure. Fear of
missing out provides a salient example of how this trend towards
frictionles s online sharing can foster ambivale nce about social
media. The present work represents the first empirically based
and theoretically grounded examination of the fear of missing
out phenomeno n. Fear of missing out can be directly and accu-
rately measured and does not arise in a vacuum. Our findings show
those with low levels of satisfaction of the fundamenta l needs for
competence , autonom y, and relatedness tend towards higher lev-
els of fear of missing out as do those with lower levels of general
mood and overall life satisfaction . FoMO is associate d with higher
levels of behavioral engagement with social media, possibly to the
detriment of learning outcomes and driver safety. We believe the
present research constitutes the first of many important investiga-
tions of fear of missing out.