'FOMO' causing smartphone users to check screens almost 100 times a day

As a result of the modern world’s addiction to being online, smartphone users are now ruled by an affliction commonly known as ‘Fear of Missing Out’, aka the constant need to check push notifications. Many have identified the area as a source of interest for app-friendly brands.

Whatever the semantics (eMarketer calls it ‘Fear Of Missing Something’, or FOMS) the online world has begun to recognise the trend in FOMO as a very real symptom of the digital world in recent years. The burning desire to stay on top of digital communications means that most users feel they must check their smartphones right before they sleep and right after they awake, for fear they might not notice updates on their social media apps, messages, emails and games.

FOMO has become so real, new research has shown that users now check their home screens nearly 100 times a day, with data from Mobile Posse and Phoenix Marketing International revealing that FOMO is reshaping the way consumers use their smartphones in the modern world.

Despite the growing recognition of FOMO, which many in the digital marketing world would probably admit to suffering from, marketers are yet to take full advantage of the opportunities that consumers suffering from FOMO may offer. Push notifications that appear on the oft-checked screens of digitally savvy consumers are an excellent way of drawing in potential consumers desperate to stay up-to-date with digital trends, and is an area many should investigate further over the coming years.