The moderating role of fear of missing out (FOMO) in the effect of trait anxiety on social media fatigue in influencers

Along with the development of technology, the use of the internet is becoming widespread day by day. As the widespread use of the internet, the perception of communication and social life has changed and interactions on social media platforms have increased. The widespread use of the internet has created both new professions and new concepts such as social media fatigue and fear of missing the moment (FOMO). The fact that influncers use social media intensively both for their work and in their daily lives causes both anxiety and social media fatigue. In this framework, the aim of this study is to reveal the regulatory role of fear of missing out (FOMO) in the effect of trait anxiety on social media fatigue. The sample of the study consists of influencers who post on social media, especially on Instagram. The data of this study were collected with the help of survey technique. In the regulatory effect analysis, regression analysis based on the bootstarp method was performed using Process Macro developed by Hayes (2018). According to the results of the research; it was seen that influencers were neither tired nor tired in terms of social media fatigue, that is, they were undecided. It was observed that the fear of missing the moment and trait anxiety levels of the respondents in the sample were relatively low. On the other hand, a weak positive relationship was found between trait anxiety and social media fatigue. Accordingly, trait anxiety and social media fatigue act together, that is, when one increases, the other increases, or when one decreases, the other decreases. Both dimensions of FOMO, personal and social FOMO, were found to have a moderating effect on the effect of trait anxiety on social media fatigue. In other words, when both personal and social FOMO are at moderate or high levels, the effect of trait anxiety on social media fatigue is greater, which means that the relationship between trait anxiety and social media fatigue is regulated by both types of FOMO.