We’ve all felt it. The nagging anxiety that your friends are having more fun than you elsewhere, often sparked by a seemingly exciting social media post.
The phenomenon of the so-called ‘fear of missing out’, or FOMO, has become known as a common experience among younger generations.
Now, researchers have discovered the scientific reasons why we feel it.
As well as our innate competitiveness, it is a lot to do with the human instinct to seek out a potential sexual partner, according to a new study by Canadian scientists.
In other words, it’s an ingrained sense of ‘what if’ regarding romantic relationships. When we feel we might be missing out, we compete more actively for social and sexual opportunities.
Research has suggested FOMO is due to competitive behaviors and short-term mating interests. In women, it was also linked to less social support
Study author Adam Davis, professor of social sciences at Canadore College, said: ‘FOMO might alert people to the threat of not participating in these important social activities, which could motivate them to seek out and compete for social and sexual opportunities.’
Researchers from Nipissing University in Canada enrolled 327 straight American adults aged between 19 and 60 into the study.
In the study, published in the journal Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, participants were given a 10-item scale to measure their base level of FOMO.
It featured statements like ‘I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me’ and, ‘tt bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet up with friends.’
Participants rated the extent to which each statement applied to them on a scale of one to five, with five meaning extremely true.
Then participants were rated on status seeking, competition among genders, short-term mating effort and degree of social support with a questionnaire for each.
For status seeking, statements included: ‘Being very successful is important to me. I hope people recognize my achievements.’
For intrasexual competition, they rated statements such as, ‘I can’t stand it when I meet another woman/man who is more attractive than I am.’
Promiscuousness was measured through three related factors: behavior, attitude and desire.
Participants were also asked to state the number of sexual partners they’d had outside of a commited relationship.
Scores for each factor were combined, with a higher score indicating higher promiscuity.
The researchers found that those who were more likely to experience high levels of FOMO also ranked higher on measures of sexual desire and an attitude towards seeking out new partners.
Other factors, such as how much social support the participants felt they had, were not as strongly linked to FOMO/
Study author Adam Davis, professor of social sciences at Canadore College, said: ‘Among American adults, we found that higher levels of FOMO were associated with a greater desire to seek out short-term sex partners.’
