To Study the relationship between Social Media Addiction, Self Esteem and Fear of Missing Out

Abstract

Social media is a platform that allows people to exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks and today, with the easy access to the net, people of all ages, especially youngsters, are bent towards using these apps to stay in touch with their peers. This continuous increase in the use of social media has led to an addiction to such networking sites. This addiction is often thought to be mediated by the fear of missing out and self-esteem. Thus, the study focuses on the relationship between social media addiction, fear of missing out and self-esteem. For this purpose, the study used a quantitative methodology using surveys as a data collecting tool. Participants included 120 students aged 18-22 studying in colleges of Delhi NCR selected through convenience sampling. In processing the data, correlation and linear regression was used. Results showed that social media addiction levels increase alongside increases in the fear of missing out. Self-esteem on the other hand decreased as addiction levels increased. It was also found that self-esteem and fear of missing out have a negative relationship. Linear regression found that all the three variables predict variance in each other to a certain extent. Thus, the final results showed a significant relationship between all the three variables.