Relationship between internet addiction and online fear of missing out among Mumbai youth

The present study examined the nature of internet addiction and online fear of missing out as well as the relationship between the two variables among the youth of Mumbai city. The study sample consisted of 111 participants, between the age range of 18 to 30 years. Past researches have indicated that psychological attributes like depression, anxiety, mood swings, procrastination, loneliness etc are some of the pervasive consequences associated with Internet Addiction and Online Fear of Missing Out. The data was collected using Modified Fear of Missing out Scale and Internet Addiction Scale. To verify the hypothesis, Descriptive Statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient test and simple linear bivariate regression test were computed. Results indicated a significant and a moderate positive correlation between Internet Addiction and Online Fear of Missing Out (r (109) = .511, p < .01). The regression analyses showed that online fear of missing out explained 26.1% variance of Internet Addiction (R2 = .261, F (1,109) = 38.55, p < .001). The regression equation for predicting the internet addiction from online fear of missing out was ŷ = -37.27 + 0.55x. Thus, there is a significant relationship between internet addiction and online fear of missing out.