Full length articleMotivators of online vulnerability: The impact of social network site use and FOMO
Introduction
Social networking sites (SNS) are a pervasive force in today's digitally driven society offering users the ability to develop and maintain their social spheres in interactive, multimedia rich online environments (Boyd, 2007). Constant connectivity to SNS such as Facebook is becoming increasingly common through the widespread availability of internet connectivity and a plethora of socially enabled digital devices. Increased connectivity to SNS has been linked to a fear of missing out (FOMO), a psychological state in which people become anxious that others within their social spheres are leading much more interesting and socially desirable lives (Przybylski, Murayama, DeHaan, & Gladwell, 2013). An under-researched but rising area of academic interest, previous studies have focussed on the potential impact of FOMO on users' digital behaviour in terms of use and device checking (Przybylski et al., 2013). To date FOMO has not been discussed in the realms of online vulnerability. In the following research, a set of analyses that link SNS use, FOMO and psychological vulnerability are outlined.
Online vulnerability can be defined as an individual's capacity to experience detriments to their psychological, reputational, or physical wellbeing (Davidson & Martellozzo, 2013) as a result of the experiences that they may encounter whilst engaging in online activities. Direct associations between SNS use and online vulnerability present a complex research landscape. SNS use has been found to provide an abundance of benefits for an individual's psychosocial wellbeing, including increases in social support, connectivity, and self-esteem (Burke and Kraut, 2014, Ellison et al., 2007). A recent cross-sectional structural equation modelling based analysis by Wang, Jackson, Gaskin, and Wang (2014) of 337 college students (M = 19.6 years, 765% female) in China found that frequent social use of SNS was positively linked to increases in wellbeing.
Use of SNS, however, has also been found to harbour a ‘dark side’ in terms of an individual's potential exposure to online vulnerability. A myriad of sensationalised anecdotes in the popular press have included instances of identity theft (BBC, 2015), cyber-harassment (Mail Online, 2015) and stranger danger (New York Times, 2016). While these purported experiences can be largely attributed to the few and not the masses, away from the media panic academic studies have nevertheless demonstrated consistent associations between increased SNS use and a variety of online vulnerabilities, including incidents of data misuse, online harassment, and exposure to inappropriate content (boyd and Ellison, 2008, Brandtzæg et al., 2010, Staksrud et al., 2013).
Exposure to online vulnerability does not automatically necessitate psychological vulnerability (Livingstone & Smith, 2014). However, there is compelling evidence to suggest that exposure to online vulnerability may result in adverse consequences for a SNS user's psychological wellbeing (Keipi et al., 2015, Patchin and Hinduja, 2010). For this reason, this study argues that the purportedly positive benefits of engaging with SNS are likely to be offset if an individual reports experiencing increased exposure to online vulnerability.
Testing associations between SNS use and online vulnerability provide an indication of the potential benefits and consequences of frequent social media use. However, such tests are unlikely to provide an adequate explanation of the factors that make some users more susceptible to online vulnerability than others. In the following, these factors are explored.
Staksrud et al. (2013) suggest that merely being an online social network user does not in itself make a person susceptible to online vulnerability; vulnerability is instead dependent on the way in which an individual interacts with the site. Online practices including self-disclosure and the accumulation of large unmanageable online networks (Buglass et al., 2016, Staksrud et al., 2013) have been cited as being contributory factors to online vulnerability.
It has been suggested that such online self-promoting behaviours might be driven by a user's attempt to regulate psychological needs deficits relating to social control, social connectivity, and belonging derived from perceived feelings of social ostracism (Carpenter, 2012, Vorderer et al., 2016). On Facebook, these perceptions are borne from an individual's ability to view a constantly updating stream of multimedia content (e.g., status updates) and friending behaviours exhibited by members of their online network. This information is intended to provide the individual with a means of keeping informed about the social lives and interests of their connections. However, social monitoring on this scale can be problematic. For example, viewing the status updates and photographs of a ‘friend’ at a party to which the individual user has not been invited has the potential to fuel perceptions and fears of being socially ostracised.
The perception and fear of online social ostracism has been most recently linked to FOMO. FOMO is a psychological trait described as a “pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent” (Przybylski et al., 2013, p. 1841). In the context of SNS, FOMO promotes a state of continuous psychological flux in which a user's tendency for FOMO drives SNS use which in turn drives further feelings of FOMO (Przybylski et al., 2013). Associations between FOMO and SNS have to date focused on FOMO as a psychological driver of user engagement and device checking. Little attention has been paid to the effect of increased SNS use on FOMO itself, in spite of claims that the phenomenon is likely to become increasingly embedded in an SNS user's psyche as SNS use intensifies (Przybylski et al., 2013).
Feeling excluded from ones’ social connections has been seen to lead to decreases in psychological wellbeing (Bevan, Pfyl, & Barclay, 2012). In terms of FOMO itself, Przybylski et al. (2013) reported that increased levels of FOMO were indicative of decreased levels of life satisfaction and general mood. On this basis therefore it might be assumed that suffering from FOMO has the potential to negatively impact on any psychological benefits from using SNS.
The impact of FOMO on a user's potential to experience online vulnerability is a somewhat more complex affair. At present no empirical evidence exists to suggest a direct link between FOMO and incidents of vulnerability. However, previous research has alluded to links between online self-promotion behaviours and online vulnerability (Dredge, Gleeson, & de la Piedad Garcia, 2014). It has been suggested that individuals fearing ostracism are likely to compensate for a lack of perceived control in their online lives by self-promoting themselves via editing and updating content on their profiles (Trepte & Reinecke, 2013). Furthermore, while empirical research into the consequences of FOMO, or indeed the fear of social ostracism, have thus far been lacking in terms of links with social connectivity and belonging, researchers have made connections between SNS use and a user's ability to self-promote through increasing their social capital in order to boost their self-worth (Ellison et al., 2007). On this basis, it is therefore plausible that individuals experiencing deficits in social needs as a result of FOMO might be more likely to seek out increased social capital through the accumulation of larger online networks.
Concerns have been raised regarding increased self-disclosure and friending on social network sites due to their apparent role in increasing opportunities for users to experience incidents of online vulnerability (Debatin et al., 2009, Davidson and Martellozzo, 2013). It is therefore expected that one or indeed a combination of these behaviours, whilst potentially offering psychological benefits for SNS users coping with needs deficits, will ultimately lead to an increased capacity for users to experience online vulnerability and therefore result in an overall increase in user vulnerability.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that individuals experiencing FOMO may find themselves in a state of “self-regulatory limbo” (Przybylski et al., 2013, p. 1842), with individuals entering a cycle of behaviour in which they seek to reaffirm their identity and self-esteem by spending an increasing amount of time online, which in turn may lead to further fears of missing out, an increased capacity for self-disclosing and friending behaviours, and ultimately further decreases in social and psychological wellbeing.
Based on the reported literature, the following hypotheses are proposed: H1 Increased SNS use will be positively associated with psychological wellbeing. H2 Increased SNS use will be positively associated with reported exposure to online vulnerability. H3 Increased reported exposure to online vulnerability will mediate the relationship between SNS use and psychological wellbeing. H4 Increased SNS use will be positively associated with increased FOMO. H5 FOMO will mediate the relationship between SNS use and psychological wellbeing. H6 FOMO will be positively associated with an increase in online self-promotion. H7 Online self-promoting behaviours will mediate the relationship between FOMO and online vulnerability. H8 Detriments in psychological wellbeing will lead to increases in SNS use, FOMO and further decreases in psychological wellbeing over time.
The overall theoretical model (see Fig. 1) that incorporates our hypotheses and that is tested within this study therefore aims to integrate the literature supporting the cross-sectional role of SNS use and FOMO as a predictor of online vulnerability, with the notion that the hypothesised detrimental effects of SNS use on user wellbeing might be cyclic in nature.
Section snippets
Method
Data from online surveys were used to explore the relationship between SNS use, FOMO, self-promoting behaviours, online vulnerability, and psychological wellbeing.
Results
The findings of the present study are outlined first as a large-scale cross-sectional analysis seeking to demonstrate potential associations between SNS use, FOMO, and online vulnerability. Secondly, a two-phase longitudinal dataset is used to demonstrate whether these associations are evident over time.
Discussion
The present study explored the potential associations between SNS use, FOMO, and online vulnerability. Using SEM based analyses of cross-sectional and longitudinal self-reported datasets, the results provide an insight into the behavioural predictors of online vulnerability. The main findings can be summarised as follows. First, direct support for a positive relationship between SNS use and psychological wellbeing (H1) was not evident. Second, the online vulnerability hypothesis (H2) was
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