FOMO*: it’s the new YOLO*.
While many of us may flippantly claim to be social media addicts, new survey findings indicate it’s not a joke at all – and Fear Of Missing Out is the driving force behind the addiction.
Harris Interactive collated responses from more than 2,000 US adults aged 18 years and over, and the statistics are confronting:
- 27% check their social networks as soon as they wake up
- 56% are afraid of missing something such as an event, news, important status update if they don’t keep an eye on their social networks
- 52% have taken, or considered taking, a ‘vacation’ from one or more social networks in the past year
- Nearly 3 in 5 (58%) wish there was a solution to help them use, monitor, and protect all of their social networking profiles and emails from one platform
What’s more, users are also using more social networking accounts than ever before – some 42% of respondents have multiple accounts. That figure leaps to 61% for the 18-34 age group.
Taking annual leave or a vacation all comes at a cost – the average person is now manning 3.1 inboxes.
And while more than 50% of social media users dream of taking an offline vacation, just a quarter of users actually will.
Forum question: Tell us, are you addicted to social media?
NB:
FOMO = Fear of missing out
YOLO = You only live once