What is FOMO?

The concept was studied in marketing in the 1990s, and the acronym FOMO was popularised by writer Patrick McGinnis in a 2004 Harvard Business School magazine article. It spread with social media, where carefully curated posts make other people’s lives seem more exciting. Research links FOMO to compulsive phone checking, poorer sleep and lower life satisfaction, especially among young people. A 2013 study by psychologist Andrew Przybylski created a scale to measure it. Marketers also exploit FOMO with countdown timers and “only a few left” messages.