32nd Annual Student Research Conference
Fun Activities Stay Fun: Affective Forecasting and Fear of Missing Out
Allison R. Rice* and Margaret A. King
Dr. Karen Vittengl, Faculty Mentor
Many factors influence the relationship between social media usage and life satisfaction. One factor may be an individual’s fear of missing out, or FOMO. Based off of this, individuals will undervalue activities they have participated in and overvalue other activities when viewed on social media. In this study, individuals ranked three activities: a video, a game, and a craft. In small groups one task was selected to participate in. Afterward, participants rated simulated social media activities, including the one they participated in, based on their enjoyment. The predicted pattern held true for the craft, slightly true for the video, and was not supported for the game. Instead, individuals that enjoyed their chosen activity to participate in rated all activity posts as enjoyable, including the game (r(68)=0.37, p=0.002), craft (r(68)=0.41, p=0.001), and video (r(68)=0.29, p=0.014).
Keywords: Affective Forecasting, Fear of Missing Out, FOMO, Social Media, Life satisfaction, Activites, Fun, Enjoyment
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 7-4
Location: SUB GEO
Time: 3:00