Adolescent Screen Time Associated with Risk Factor of Fear of Missing Out During Pandemic COVID-19

Abstract

The use of digital technology for educational and recreational purposes among adolescents has drastically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the prolonged isolation and excessive screen time of the social media platforms might lead to mental health issues, particularly the fear of missing out (FOMO). Thus, this study is aimed at exploring the adolescent's screen time and its contribution to FOMO. This study employed a qualitative method using semi-structured interviews with 30 selected adolescents. The data were collected during the third peak of the pandemic period in Malaysia, between the 11th of April 2021 and the 1st of July 2021. The results revealed that there were four issues related to the FOMO: loneliness, life satisfaction, self-disclosures, and social comparison. In short, self-regulation and awareness on the effects of long screen time need to be instilled among the adolescents during the pandemic. Also, it is pivotal to address the psychological needs, such as healthy social interactions in ensuring the adolescents are not inclined toward FOMO.

Introduction

In April 2020, the movement control order (MCO) was imposed worldwide to control the spread of COVID-19. This has resulted in billions of people being forced to stay at home, including more than 800 million students.¹ This pressing situation has also forced educational institutions to immediately resort to online learning.² Even though this measure was implemented in ensuring the continuity of education, students, especially adolescents, were immensely affected. The isolation has changed their lifestyle and social activities, and also their well-being.^3,4 This situation is challenging as they were abruptly forced to isolate and cut face-to-face interactions with their peers.^5–7

Moreover, this situation is possibly detrimental to their well-being as they opted to spend more time on social media in replacing the face-to-face interactions.⁸

The latest Global Digital Statshot report has stated that the number of social media users around the world exceeded four billion.⁹ The number of people using social media at home has risen exponentially, with traffic exceeding 70 percent, especially among adolescents.^9,10 Despite its advantages, the excessive use of social media might have a negative impact on adolescents' mental health.^11–13 Fear of missing out (FOMO) syndrome is precarious and has been affecting the adolescents' social and psychological wellness.

There are two components to FOMO: a sense of missing out, followed by a compulsive need to maintain social ties with others.^14–17 The FOMO is a worldwide phenomenon that has piqued the interest of researchers, particularly in countries such as Israel,¹⁸ Turkey,¹⁹ Belgium,²⁰ Poland,²¹ the United Kingdom,²² New Zealand,²³ Germany,²⁴ Italy,²⁵ China,²⁶ Bosnia,²⁷ India,²⁸ Latin America,²⁹ the United States,³⁰ and Spain,³¹ particularly between 2013 and 2021. However, studies on this issue are still in further investigation, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to previous research, the FOMO has been linked to a variety of mental health issues, including stress,^20,32 anxiety,^26,30 depression,^33–35 lack of sleep,^36,37 poor academic motivation,^38,39 mobile phone addiction,^40,41 and social media abuse.⁴² Research has shown that the FOMO can also cause a short-term decrease in feelings of happiness, which leads to a lower sense of satisfaction with the current situation.^20,33,43 In fact, previous studies have also discussed the symptoms of FOMO, such as frequently checking mobile phones,⁴⁴ and feeling uneasy when their phones do not work or when they do not have adequate internet access, which makes it difficult for them to keep themselves updated with recent updates from their followers or friends.^16,17,41,45

Even though the connection between them is virtually, they easily experience discomfort with their friends who display luxury, joy or have a large number of followers.^14,21 Further, they anticipate responses and compliments from people who see their social media status.^46–48

Specifically, the FOMO is defined as two distinct characteristics: (a) fear that others are having pleasurable experiences while one is absent, and (b) constant need to maintain contact with the members of one's social network. This behavior, however, can be both reactive and proactive. Proactive FOMO occurs when a person feels compelled to browse their social media, whereas reactive FOMO occurs when a person feels obligated to respond to notifications received on their device.^16,26,33,43 As a result, psychopathological effects such as social anxiety, depression, and problematic technology use will exist.^{20,34,35,40,41} Based on these definitions, it is clear that there is a possible relationship between the screen time and FOMO.

On the other hand, prior research has focused less on the relationship between screen time and FOMO among adolescents during the pandemic.⁴⁹ Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to FOMO, because it interferes with their emotional and behavioral development.^30,50,51 If this issue is not addressed, it has the potential to increase stress levels and decrease life satisfaction. After 2 years of the COVID-19 outbreak, there have been significant changes in the quantity and presentation of digital information, such as streaming video, Netflix, Tik Tok, and so on. This can influence adolescent personalities to be more inclined to digital content that they are deeply invested in.^52,53 Further, the alarming rate of screen time and social media content consumption contributes to the FOMO problem.

The purpose of this study was to investigate screen time and its relationship to the risk of FOMO problems among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings may aid in the development of training programs for self-regulation of screen time skills and awareness of the risk of FOMO among social media users.

Methodology

This study employed a qualitative research design in gathering valuable information on the adolescents' experiences with FOMO. The selected participants were Malaysian adolescents who experienced the Phase 2 of MCO in 2021. At this particular stage, all educational institutions in Malaysia were forced to be closed. Malaysia was ranked fourth out of 238 countries, with a population of 32,365,999 million people, and more than 27 million internet and social media users aged 15–24. (16.63 percent out of Malaysia population).⁵⁴ According to the data, there are currently 1,301,758 students (age 17–19) enrolled in high schools across 2,240 schools in Malaysia.⁵⁵ This research has obtained approval from the Faculty of Education, University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

In this study, the adolescent participants were selected based on the following criteria: (a) full-time students, (b) aged between 17 and 19, (c) willing to be interviewed, and (d) owned personal social media accounts such as Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. A consent to participate in this research was obtained from the participants. These participants were asked to report their screen time using screen time record apps on their mobile phone; for instance, the participants were asked to keep a record of their: (a) overall screen time in a day, and (b) screen time for social activities, productivity, and entertainment.

In exploring FOMO among these participants, a semi-structured interview was conducted. This method allows the researcher to collect open-ended data; to explore participants' thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about a particular topic; and to delve deeply into personal and sometimes sensitive issues.⁵⁶

During the interview, a series of questions were asked that cover: (a) daily screen time, (b) types of social media they usually use, (c) reasons to use social media during the pandemic, (d) feelings toward social media, (e) relationship they formed among social media users, (f) perception toward their followers and themselves, and (g) self-portrayal on social media. For the analysis, the recorded interviews were first verbatim transcribed. Once transcribed, the interviews were imported to NVivo 12 (QSR International Pty Ltd, Doncaster, Australia).

After the analysis of the transcriptions, coding and themes-subthemes were discussed by the research team for their verification. Finally, the participants were provided with feedback on the findings. The study followed the RATS (Relevance, Appropriateness, Transparency, and Soundness) guidelines for qualitative research (12).⁵⁷ Table 1 summarizes four themes highlighted by participants as key screen time and its relationship to FOMO during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. These themes were derived from the findings of the interviews and based on the findings of previous studies that indicated that loneliness, life satisfaction, self-disclosure, and social comparison are among the effects of FOMO^{16,17,20,52,53} (Table 2).

Table 1.

Social Demographic Variables of Study Participants (n = 30)

Social demographic	Descriptions	Participants, n (%)
Gender	Male	16 (53.3)
Gender	Female	14 (46.7)
Age (years)	17	12 (40.0)
	18	12 (40.0)
	19	6 (20.0)
Social media platform	Whataspp	30 (100)
	Tik Tok	27 (90.0)
	Instagram	26 (86.6)
	Twitter	15 (50)
	Facebook	11 (36.6)
	We Chat	5 (17.7)

Table 2.

Duration (in Hours) Spent on Screen Time Variable of Study Participants (n = 30)

Variable	Descriptions	Participants, n (%)
Screen time	0–4 hours	0 (0)
	4–8 hours	2 (6.67)
	8–12 hours	10 (33)
	12–16 hours	15 (50)
	16–20 hours	2 (6.67)
	20–24 hours	1 (3.33)

Findings

The following section presents and illustrate students' experience with screen time and its relation to FOMO based on findings from semi-structured interviews. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) loneliness (b) life satisfaction, (c) self-disclosure, and (d) social comparison (Table 3). Each category is further divided into two subcategories. Most teens believe that too much screen time is associated with FOMO. The results showed that the risk of experiencing FOMO was related to screen time.

Table 3.

Emerging Themes

Categories	Subcategories	Descriptions
Themes
Loneliness	Social loneliness	Absence of a circle of people such as friends and family members
Loneliness	Emotional loneliness	Lack of emotional support and feeling of attachment to the intimate person
Life satisfaction	Enjoyment	Opportunities to connect and communicate with others
Life satisfaction	Lower mood	Scrolling various posting that was exposed with negative emotions
Self-disclosure	Self-image	Promoting an idea for self-brand and market
Self-disclosure	Self esteem	Self-evaluation of the self to match social standards
Social comparison	Anxiety	Seeking and sharing information about uncertain situation pandemic
Social comparison	Rewarding experiences	Values how others act and think through comments, likes, and shares in social media

Loneliness

Adolescence is critical for developing and maintaining social and emotional habits important to mental health. The results show that teens spent more time with their peers before the pandemic than with their families to develop meaningful experiences and self-identity. However, they said that social distancing and continued isolation made it difficult to interact with peers during the MCO. This situation causes them to spend much time on social media, because they feel lonely and not surrounded by friends physically.

So instead of physical socializing, they held virtual meetings and discussions to update their friends and acquaintances on their routines. To support this, research shows that teens feel lonely because distance prevents them from being with their closest family members who have limited time with them because they are frontline workers. The social experience is less meaningful because it does not allow you to share the joy of holidays, birthday celebrations, and family gatherings. Therefore, they often use the Internet to communicate with their families and express their feelings.

Survey results also showed that most respondents who spent 8–16 hours on the screen said they lacked emotional support and a sense of connection in this pressing situation. They are shown to be lonely, because they are restricted in expressing themselves and sharing ideas and stories with close friends.

Quite differently, before this pandemic, they reported that they were more likely to express their feelings to close friends and receive positive emotional support at school. This support system they have has been limited during this pandemic. Interestingly, respondents with more than 16 hours of screen time reported increasing loneliness as their parents managed their homes and worked from home. Ultimately, this is the result of the limited time these teens spend. Again, they want to choose a social media platform to post and update their daily activities, and someone to comment and reply to their stories and feelings.

Life satisfaction

The participants also expressed dissatisfaction with their circumstances and concern about the situation, prompting them to utilize social media to pass the time. The majority of respondents who spent 8–16 hours of screen time expressed that isolation at home for such an extended amount of time prohibited them from participating in pre-planned activities, leading them to repeating the same routine until they felt bored. Communication with friends, following the life broadcasts of individuals they enjoy and are inspired by, and seeing current trending activities, dramas, and viral cultures on social media has become their pandered.

Surprisingly, respondents who spent more than 16 hours on a screen felt that spending too much time in front of a screen had a detrimental effect on their mood as they browsed through various messages that conveyed unpleasant emotions. Some posts try to exaggeratedly display joy and wealth for the benefit of their followers. It is also content about COVID-19-related deaths, family issues, financial hardship, and content aimed at eliciting empathy that can interfere with their mood and emotions. Likewise, respondents who use 4–8 hours of screen time say that exposure to various posts prompts them to watch videos or statuses multiple times and share information, which affects their mood in their day-to-day lives.

Self-disclosure

Overall, the survey results also show that respondents claim that social media is a well-established technology that acts as a platform for self-expression. They argue that although the time spent during the pandemic cannot be communicated physically, they have opted for social media to share their daily experiences and reflections. In addition, respondents with more than 16 hours of screen time mentioned that many posts help form a profile that can capture the attention of followers or viewers, not just people they know, such as friends or family, but also people outside the circle.

This profile can help them develop a positive self-image, promote self-branding, and perfect marketing. Some felt rewarded when their ideas were well received and accompanied by positive feedback. These situations may influence their behavior to stay relevant on social media and regularly monitor the number of likes, shares, and followers on their profiles. However, there is potential to create dishonest content to help them stay relevant and influence others.

Other than that, most respondents who spent 8–16 hours said that negative feedback on their posts affected their self-esteem. For example, if you share conflicting experiences, feelings, or remorse, you may receive offensive answers or remarks, and your social media account may be suspended. Even more worrisome is when a low self-esteem person uses a “fully edited feed” to hide difficulties and anxieties and continue to create and portray fake “ideal” people. This creates an imbalance in self-esteem, as they invariably spend much time creating posts in the hope of positive comments.

Social comparison

On the other hand, almost all respondents said that spending so much time on social media affects how they see themselves and are constantly compared with their friends. When faced with insecurities, they tend to post a slew of updates about their personal experiences and self-reflections on various encounters to prove they are doing a good job. Two of them (respondents who used 8–12 hours of screen time) also said they saw posts describing the dissatisfaction of the bereaved.

Interestingly, posts related to COVID-19 patients and frontliners severely affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic indirectly affected their sentiment. These worries affect their outlook on life and heighten their fear of losing a loved one. It has led to undue worry and fear conveyed through emotional posts on social media. In addition, they said they tended to watch videos and read about symptoms of COVID-19 and keep checking themselves and their significant other.

In addition to this, these teens envy those who have experienced joy, luxury, and achievement, especially during tough pandemic times. They also mentioned that influencers with large followings, positive comments, and high-quality posts are their idols. From there, their obsession grew and led indirectly to constant comparisons with these people. Most respondents who spend 8–16 hours of screen time say they try to copy influencer videos or material comments on projects and movies to more likes, shares, and followers as a kind of self-reward.

Conclusion

COVID-19 prevention efforts, including school closures and restrictions on extracurricular activities, have increased screen use, leading to FOMO. School closures may be temporary, but these teens are dependent on social media to replace their pre-pandemic social life. Raising awareness of the dangers of long screen time is essential to prevent FOMO from taking root during this period. In short, this study highlights the critical role of screen time in bridging the communication gap between teens and their well-being to help them adapt to these new standards.

These findings may help improve screen time self-regulation skills and awareness of FOMO risk in social media users, especially adolescents. Future research should examine what these teens, parents, and teachers should do differently and how technologists should develop products that take psychological considerations into account.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Suriana Zain, Muhammad Amirul Shafie, Muhamaad Irfan Abdul Rani, and Muhammad Zaidi Rompinge for their help with data collection. The authors would also like to thank the Faculty of Education for providing permission in conducting this research. The authors also appreciate the reviewers' feedback in improving the quality of this article.

Author Disclosure Statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Funding Information

No funding was received for this article.

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