Consumer Behavior and the Role of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Phenomenon in Contemporary Consumption

In today’s modern society consumption is more prominent than ever before. Consumers mostly deal with a finite amount of time and resources, but infinite amount of wants and needs. In addition, consumer behavior is influenced by a variety of external and internal factors which govern it in a way that is sometimes difficult to express and comprehend even for those who are under their influence. The rise in popularity of social media has contributed to further intensification of this issue. As a result, phenomenon such as FOMO emerged. More novel concepts related to it, such as fomsumerism and fomsumer, are also examined in the theoretical portion of this thesis. The research that was conducted aimed to examine the connection between FOMO and different types of experiences, and what effect it has on them. To explore this question, qualitative research method was used. Individual interviews were conducted with five participants. The research results have shown that the majority of participants feel regret when missing out on experiences that involve hanging out with their peers, friends, family and loved ones. Additionally, most of them also report negative feelings and emotions caused by the fear of missing out. However, that sensation is momentary. Inperson conversations turned out to be the main source of FOMO