Afraid of Social Exclusion: Fear of Missing Out Predicts Cyberball-Induced Ostracism

Although social exclusion violates the basic needs of sense of control, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and belongingness, it is unknown if fear of missing out (FoMO) or attachment anxiety contributes to one’s sense of ostracism and each of these basic needs. We aimed to identify if baseline scores in attachment anxiety and/or FoMO predict how excluded an individual feels after playing an online ball-tossing game designed to include or exclude them and if these constructs tap into basic needs that ostracism has shown to threaten. A sample of 193 young adults participated in this online study. After completing measures of demographics, FoMO, and attachment anxiety, each participant played Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing game. Under the guise of playing with two other human participants, this paradigm consists of pre-programmed conditions of either inclusion, which entails receiving 10 of the total 30 ball tosses, or exclusion, which consists of receiving the ball only twice at the beginning of the game. Participants then completed post-measures of state ostracism, basic needs, and attention checks and were debriefed regarding the nature of the Cyberball game. We found that FoMO, but not attachment anxiety, predicted how ostracized one felt. Likewise, FoMO was inversely related to control, belongingness, and meaningful existence. Attachment anxiety did not predict any of the basic needs examined in the study. We conclude FoMO may be less about the experience one misses out on and more about the fear of being excluded. Future research is needed to evaluate if people experience increases in state FoMO while excluded and if baseline mood influences our findings.