Most Young People Only Use Instagram and TikTok Because of FOMO

Becker Friedman Institute of Economics, and University of Chicago conducted a study about the impacts and trends of social media among users and the reason behind why they use social media apps. The study revealed an interesting yet shocking fact that most young people use social media out of fear that they will miss out on certain aspects. They say that they use social media because they see everyone using it and don’t want people to think that they are not cultured enough.

The bottom-line of the whole study was that when individuals aren't active on social media as much as other people, they fear that they will miss out on new trends and will be left behind. Same thing happens with not owning luxury brands, as people often disregard people who are not familiar or do not own a branded item. It also affects their social status among peers.

This study started after offering more than 1,000 college students money if they deactivate their accounts. They were asked to deactivate the accounts while the rest of the people can still use their social media. The result showed that if the people in the study had to deactivate, $59 would be enough for them to delete their TikTok account. And they would deactivate their Instagram account if given $47. After that, they were asked if they would deactivate their social media accounts if the other would do too. The users agreed that they will take $28 to deactivate their TikTok account and $10 to deactivate their Instagram account if others would deactivate too.

It was also revealed that 58% of the respondents say that they would like to live in a world where TikTok and Instagram couldn’t exist. Some also agreed that everyone should deactivate their accounts if people in the study are going to do it. A small percentage also said that no one should deactivate their Instagram and TikTok accounts.

Respondents who said that they would deactivate their accounts were also asked why they still use social media apps. The main reason was FOMO(Fear of Missing Out). They said that they feel like not using social media, especially Instagram, will make them feel that they are not up-to-date with social media trends. Others admitted that they are just addicted to Instagram while some said that they use it for entertainment. Maps app was also included in the survey. The reason that people told of using Maps app was 30% productivity, 30% information and 10% FOMO.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World