1.3. Previous research
Some preliminar y research has explored the prevalence of
FoMO and its relation to social media (JWT, 2011, 2012 ). This survey
work defined FoMO as ‘‘the uneasy and sometimes all-consuming
feeling that you’re missing out – that your peers are doing, in
the know about, or in possession of more or something better than
you’’. Under this framing of FoMO, nearly three quarters of young
adults reported they experienced the phenomeno n. This polling
also indicated that younger people tended to experienced intense
unease when they felt at risk for missing out on positive experience,
and that males were more likely than females to turn to social
media when struggling with a sense of FoMO. Taken together,
findings from this initial examination of fear of missing out suggest
it may be quite common among some groups. That said, these preliminary
industry reports leave open wider questions about the
operation alization, correlates, and overall relevance of FoMO.