The fear of missing out and social media addiction: A cross-sectional and quasi-experimental approach

This research aimed to explore the connection between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Social Media Addiction (SMA) and assess the efficacy of guidance and counseling programs in mitigating FoMO and SMA among Saudi students. Four hundred and seventy students from Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University participated, completing the Fear of Missing Out Scale and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. The study employed both a cross-sectional approach to examine associations among variables and a quasi-experimental method to gauge the impact of the Guidance and Counseling Program on reducing FoMO and SMA. Findings indicated a positive correlation between fear of missing out and social media addiction. Subsequent analysis of the experimental study demonstrated statistically significant differences in students' mean scores for FoMO and SMA before and after intervention. The experimental group exhibited significantly lower scores at the post-test compared to pretest scores. Conversely, there were no statistically significant differences in scores for the control groups before and after the intervention. In conclusion, guidance and counseling programs were found to be effective in diminishing the fear of missing out and social media addiction among students.