'But I Just Can’t Miss This!' Fan FOMO
How to lessen the effects of that familiar fear of missing out.
Posted June 2, 2026 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma
Being a fan and fear of missing out—that distressing feeling that you’re left out of something wonderful, something that other fans are enjoying—can go hand in hand. Fans may find themselves at risk for FOMO this summer as Marvel Studios' Avengers: Doomsday heads to Comic-Con, Major League Baseball begins the trek to the World Series, and performers from Ariana Grande to K-pop supergroup BTS hit the road for concert tours.
By definition, fans are passionate about someone or something; it makes sense that those emotional attachments would be compelling. A recent study in the journal Psychology of Popular Media found that both parasocial relationships and the accompanying FOMO can inspire fan behavior that may be highly enjoyable but can sometimes have negative consequences (Maxwell, Tefertiller, and Neese, 2026).
Parasocial Relationships
Fans develop parasocial relationships with their favorite celebrities, bands, and sports teams. While these relationships are one-sided—the celebrity normally does not know the fan exists—they nevertheless produce strong emotional attachments. Marketing teams and celebrities cultivate these relationships to ensure that fans purchase tickets to events and buy as much merchandise as they can afford—or maybe more.
Parasocial relationships are attachment -based; they elicit a desire for as much proximity as possible, whether that’s attending a concert or football game in person or interacting with the celebrity and other fans online. Parasocial relationships, while initially viewed as pathological, can have positive effects—fans find enjoyment as well as inspiration to participate in social goals . A parasocial relationship can also be a point of reference in an individual’s identity development, with admiration leading to emulation.
FOMO has also been associated with fandom. FOMO can be viewed as a temporary state that sets off anxiety about missing out or as a more stable personality trait that affects how the person generally reacts to all sorts of events, with a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences that the individual is absent from (Przybylski and colleagues, 2013).
FOMO isn’t new—long before smartphones and the internet, anyone not invited to a party that everyone else was attending felt that same pain. In the past, however, that was time-limited. With social media, the possibility of missing out on something happening “somewhere” is constant. Every time someone logs off, the flow of information continues without them. To combat FOMO, fans may engage in excessive or compulsive social media use. In the short term, that reduces the anxiety, but over time, it can create an obsessive need to stay online (Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2024), which negatively affects mental health and well-being.
What Parasocial Relationships and FOMO Have in Common
Parasocial relationships and FOMO are both expressions of the psychological need for attachment, relatedness, and connection, explained by self-determination theory (Baumeister and Leary, 1995). We all have a powerful need to belong, since our ancestors did not survive if they were unaccepted by the group. They also needed to be aware of what was going on with the rest of the group to survive—where food was available, or a threat existed. The feeling of being “left out” can feel like a matter of life and death; it’s not surprising that FOMO produces strong emotions. If this feeling is pervasive, it can result in lower life satisfaction, loneliness , a sense of social inferiority and inadequacy, or even rage and envy .
The connection between parasocial relationships and FOMO goes both ways. Since parasocial relationships are attachment relationships, fans desire as much proximity to their idols as possible. In a recent study, parasocial relationships predicted state FOMO—fans with a stronger emotional attachment to Taylor Swift reported a greater fear of missing out on seeing the Eras Tour film. Trait FOMO, on the other hand, predicted developing parasocial relationships in the first place—when “everyone” is talking about Taylor Swift, an individual with FOMO won’t want to miss out (Maxwell, Tefertiller, and Neese, 2026). Research with sports fans has similarly found that fans who are strongly identified with their favorite team have a strong need to share that passion with other fans and to interact on social media, in part due to FOMO. Parasocial relationships and FOMO were, in turn, related to fan behavior, predicting whether Swift fans would attend a concert or see the Eras Tour movie.
Fans who experience FOMO show higher social media use as they attempt to stay informed and connected, a finding across studies in gaming, music, television, and sports. With social media available throughout the day (and night), the temptation to check what others are doing to stay up to date is constant. Unfortunately, the speed at which social media sites are updated makes that an impossible goal, so the anxiety about missing out often remains.
Excessive time on social media also interferes with face-to-face relationships. A study of K-pop fans found that FOMO contributes to "phubbing," ignoring others in a social setting in favor of focusing on social media. This explains some of the negative effects of FOMO, including less effective interpersonal communication, lower life and relationship satisfaction, headaches, and depression (Putri and Sa’id, 2024). Lower self-esteem was also associated with FOMO and higher social media use in another study of K-pop fans (Siti and Hazim, 2025). Unfortunately, social media often presents an overly positive view of others, which may further decrease self-esteem and can actually increase FOMO by seeming to show that other people’s experiences are better than your own. In addition, the compulsive nature of behaviors resulting from FOMO can negatively affect an individual’s ability to take care of themselves, such as eating or sleeping , overspending, or poor academic or work performance.
Reducing FOMO’s Negative Impacts
One of the negative consequences of FOMO is social media addiction . A high level of FOMO creates a flow state for the social media user, which disconnects them from the people around them and can contribute to addictive behavior. A 2024 study found that mindfulness (increased attention to and nonjudgmental awareness of the here and now) reduced a person's absorption with social media. People still experienced the positive effects of a flow state while having less risk of developing addictive use or lowering relationship satisfaction (Brailovskaia and Margraf, 2024). Developing mindfulness skills may have a protective effect.
Finding ways to connect offline, improving communication skills, and building self-esteem can also be protective factors, mitigating the compulsive nature of FOMO-related behaviors. While corporations attempt to increase FOMO by creating a sense of urgency through limited-edition merchandise and exclusive events, being aware of the potential pitfalls can help fans enjoy the benefits of their parasocial relationships without the compulsive behavior FOMO can inspire.
Baumeister, R.F. & Leary, M.R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117 (3), 497-529.
Brailovskaia, J. & Margraf, J. (2024). From fear of missing out (FoMO) to addictive social media use: The role of social media flow and mindfulness. Computers in Human Behavior, 150 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2023.107984
Larkin, B.A. & Fink, J.S. (2015). Fandom: How second screen use of social media allows fans to accommodate multiple identities. Journal of Sport Management, 30 (6), pp 643-655. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2015-0344
Maxwell, L.C., Tefertiller, A.C. & Neese, C. (2026). ‘It’s you and me, there’s nothing like this’: Parasocial relationships, fear of missing out, and how fans consume the products in Taylor Swift’s media empire. Psychology of Popular Media , 15 (1), 90-99. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000588
Milyavskaya, M., Saffran, M., Hope, N., & Koestner, R. (2018). Fear of missing out: Prevalence, dynamics, and consequences of experiencing FOMO. Motivation and Emotion, 42 (5), 725-737. . https://doi:10.1007/s11031-018-9683-5
Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior , 29 (4), 1841-1848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.02.014
Putri, C.A. & Sa’id, M. (2024). The effect of FoMO and social media addiction on phubbing behavior in adolescent K-Pop fans. Nusantara Journal of Behavioral and Social Science, 3 (4), 161-170. https://doi.org/10.47679/njbss.202464
Siti, A. & Hazim, H. (2025). The relationship between self esteem and fear of missing out (FoMO) in KPop fandom social media users. Proceeding of International Conference on Social Science and Humanity, 2 (3), 40-54. https://doi.org/10.61796/icossh.v2i3.41
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Lynn Zubernis, Ph.D. , is a professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. Her new book is There'll Be Peace When You Are Done.
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