According to a study published in the Telematics and Informatics Reports, people who find ″joy of missing out,″or JOMO, also have high levels of social anxiety. Researchers from Washington State University, US, discovered that some adults were enjoying missing out more to avoid social engagement than for the isolation or a Zen-like, relaxing sense of being able to recover.

Lead author Dr. Chris Barry, a psychology professor, stated that a possible explanation is that for those with social anxiety, social media can feel like a less intense way to connect than in-person interaction. In the study, the researchers conducted surveys with two different sets of about 500 participants each, who were asked several questions about enjoying spending time alone and disconnection and to assess loneliness, social anxiety, social media use, personality traits, and life satisfaction.

The findings of the study revealed that in the first sample, there were connections between those high in JOMO and social media use and life satisfaction, but social anxiety had the strongest correlation. In light of these contradictory findings, the team devised a second study to see whether they could identify a group of individuals who were high in JOMO but low in social anxiety.

They were there, but they were a tiny group, around 10% of the participants. This high-JOMO group expressed some mild loneliness, even if they werent socially uncomfortable. These results suggested that the sense of joy of missing out is not obvious, despite prior research connecting the fear of missing out to loneliness and low self-esteem.

(Source: https://lifestyle.livemint.com/health/wellness/few-people-seem-to-find-real-joy-in-jomo-111679387438360.html )