FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, has become a popular term associated with social media users. It describes the feeling that engulfs tech fans when they aren’t able to log onto their multiple profiles to get the latest news updates.

While FOMO may just seem like another made-up nonsense term, like YOLO, a study by social media aggregator site MyLife.com has revealed the extent to which the issue is affecting the US population.

The report, which is called Connecting and Communicating Online: State of Social Media, found that 56% of internet users are scared of missing out when it comes to news, status updates and events when they’re not able to access their chosen social networks.

The fear is so great, in fact, that 26% of respondents said they would be willing to quit other habits, such as reality TV and cigarettes, in order to regain access to social media sites.

Tying in well with these facts, it was found that around 51% of those asked log on to social networking sites more often than they did in 2011, with many turning to their smartphones, tablets and computers first thing in the morning – around 27%of users log in as soon as they get up.

MyLife.com aims to make it easier for its 60 million users to manage their social accounts by offering a single user-friendly interface. This is something which is obviously needed as 42% of the people spoken to by researchers said they are active users of more than one site; this percentage jumps up to 61% for those in the 18-34 age group.

The results show that social media is more important in people’s lives than it ever has been before, and with each company constantly offering new, innovative features, it doesn’t look like it’ll slow down any time soon.

Graeme Parton

Graeme has experience creating content for online sources and for the radio, and at university he studied Multimedia Journalism.