2. Study 1: measuring FoMO
Our objective in the first study was to create a robust individual
differenc es measure of fear of missing out. More specifically, we
wanted to create a brief, self-repo rt assessment that minimize d
participa nt burden and provided maximal informat ion about an
individua l’s level of FoMO. To achieve this goal we paired a theory-
guid ed method with latent trait theory analysis to craft a robust
assessment of fear of missing out.
To take full advantag e of this approach we needed to start with
a large pool of potential FoMO items. Based on a review of popular
and industry writing on FoMO (e.g., JWT, 2011; Morford, 2010;
Wortham, 2011 ) we drafted 32 items meant to reflect the fears,
worries, and anxieties people may have in relation to being in (or
out of) touch with the events, experiences, and conversations happening
across their extended social circles. We framed participants’
reading of and responses to scale items in terms of what
really reflected their general experiences instead of what they
thought their experiences should be.We then recruited a diverse international sample of adults to
provide self-repo rt ratings for this broad pool of candidate items,
which focused on the extent to which people feared missing out
on rewarding experiences, activities, and methods of discourse
(e.g. in jokes). The large sample was intended to be representat ive
of a wide range of potential respondents and provided the volume
of responses needed to empirically identify a subset of optimally
representat ive items using latent trait theory analysis.