Streaming social media have an immediacy that is very different from, say, a conversation over lunch recounting the events of the previous weekend. When you see that your friends are sharing a bottle of wine without you — and at that very moment — “you can imagine how things could be different,” Professor Ariely said.
It’s like a near miss in real life. “When would you be more upset?” he asked. “After missing your flight by two minutes or two hours?
“Two minutes, of course,” he said. “You can imagine how things could have been different, and that really motivates us to behave in strange ways.”
Fear of missing out does not apply only to those with a hyperactive nightlife.