Relationship Between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) in Generation Z with Stress as a Moderator

Abstract

Recently, Generation Z is said to be the successor of the Millennial Generation. Generation Z is known as the versatile generation through all advanced technologies such as smartphones. The American Psychological Association survey in 2018 found that Generation Z is one of the most stressful generations. There are 55% of them doing coping stress using social media. Currently, the use of social media can be done via a smartphone. However, in recent years the use of smartphones has created new problems, namely fear of missing out (FoMO) and problematic smartphone use (PSU) and was found to have a positive relationship between FoMO and PSU. Until now, there has been no further research that explains the role of stress in the FoMO and PSU relationships, especially for Generation Z. So the aim of this study is to see the role of stress moderators on the relationship between FoMO and PSU in Generation Z. The study was conducted on 300 people with a range of age 13-23 years who were conducted from November to December in 2020. The results obtained were that FoMO had a positive and significant relationship with PSU, but stress was found to have no role moderator on the relationship between FoMO and PSU. So, it can be concluded that stress cannot be a moderating variable on the relationship between FoMO and PSU.