Exploratory Design Research on Social Media User Experiences and Fear of Missing Out (Ongoing Thesis)
*This project is in progress. I’m actively updating and adding details, so some sections are not yet complete.
Project Overview:
This design research project explores college students' experiences with Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) on social media. Using design research methods, it gathered insights into user experiences and developed user-centered solutions to mitigate FOMO. The goal is to identify UX principles that translate into actionable design strategies, fostering healthier digital interactions and creating more mindful, less anxiety-driven social media experiences.
Timeline:
Three academic semesters:
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Spring 2024: Refining the Problem Statement
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Fall 2024: User Research
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Spring 2025: Concept Development
My Role:
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Solo thesis project for an MFA in Design Research & Development at The Ohio State University.
Advisor: Dr. Liz Sanders
Research Question
How can user experience design be applied to mitigate the negative effects of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) on social media among college students?
Goals
01
Conduct in-depth design research, such as interviews, focus groups, and co-design, to understand how college students experience FOMO across social media platforms to uncover key patterns and insights.
02
Synthesize research findings to reveal underlying causes of FOMO, connect insights across methods, and identify actionable opportunities to guide solution development for reducing FOMO in social media experiences.
03
Develop user-centered design principles to minimize FOMO in social media experiences for college students.
Table of contents:
Introduction: Defining the Topic and Problem
Literature Review
Pilot Tests
User Interviews
Workshop: Empowering Users: Co-Design
Data Analysis
Finding
Development of UX Design Principles
Conclusion and Future Directions
Introduction: Defining the Topic and Problem
Why This Matters Today
A Modern Emotion, Amplified by Design
FOMO is now one of the most common emotional struggles in our digital lives — especially for students and young adults.
It Starts With a Scroll
Social media was meant to connect us. But now, it often reminds us of everything we’re not doing, missing, or left out of.
Not Just a Personal Problem
These feelings aren’t random. They’re shaped by the design of the platforms we use every day — notifications, feeds, likes, highlights.
This Is a Design Challenge
If design contributes to FOMO, it can also help reduce it. UX has the power to create healthier, more mindful interactions.
Why It Matters
By understanding how users emotionally respond to social media, we can create better experiences — ones that reduce anxiety and support emotional well-being.
Target Audience: College Students
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For college students, social media is a daily tool for communication, information sharing, entertainment, and self-expression.
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During college years — a critical stage of identity development — social media shapes students’ self-identity and sense of belonging.
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Students face high exposure to peer comparison and FOMO triggers.
Literature Review
Research Methodology
Research Through Design (RTD)
This investigation adopts the Research Through Design (RTD) approach, a process that integrates research within design practice to explicitly generate knowledge. RTD allows for ongoing iteration and exploration, and is a method continually undergoing reinvention (Prochner & Godin, 2022).
This project focuses on what’s often referred to as the “fuzzy front end” of the design process. This is the early, ambiguous phase where designers explore open-ended questions, identify opportunities, and sometimes uncover what shouldn’t be designed (Sanders & Stappers, 2008). These early explorations are less about solving a defined problem and more about uncovering what the real problem might be.
Why Qualitative Methods
Understanding how users experience FOMO requires more than just metrics. I chose qualitative methods to uncover the reasons behind user behavior, including how people interpret, react to, and emotionally navigate social media in their daily lives. This approach supports user-centered design by capturing real stories, lived experiences, and nuanced pain points. It allowed me to identify not just what users do, but what they feel, need, and struggle with, which is essential for informing thoughtful, experience-driven design decisions.
Approach to Data Gathering
I used a combination of research methods including:
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Literature review to build a foundational understanding of FOMO and identify gaps in existing research
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Pilot studies to test early directions and refine my research approach
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User interviews to gather initial insights and identify participants for the focus group and co-design sessions
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Focus groups and co-design sessions to explore shared experiences, empower users, and generate ideas collaboratively
Starting with What’s Already Known
Looking beyond design to understand user experiences
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Many of today’s challenges, including Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), are inherently interdisciplinary, requiring insights from fields like psychology, sociology, and communication studies to be fully understood.
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Exploring how different fields have investigated this phenomenon helped build a well-rounded perspective on the problem.
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A holistic understanding is essential for informing the next steps in the design research process.
You were just catching up on what’s new, but suddenly it feels like everyone else is living life better, faster, fuller than you!
FOMO: The Hidden Feeling Behind the Scroll
We open social media to feel connected, to catch up, or just to take a short break. But as we scroll, it quickly becomes more than just updates — it becomes a stream of moments where others seem to be living more fully, experiencing more, and enjoying life in ways that feel just out of reach. This feeling is called FOMO: Fear of Missing Out.
Social media platforms are designed to keep us engaged, with constant notifications, carefully curated highlights, and endless content. But these same design choices often amplify FOMO, making users feel like they’re falling behind or not doing enough. Over time, this can quietly affect our emotional well-being, increase anxiety, and leave us feeling less satisfied with our own experiences.
What Studies Say About FOMO
Most research on FOMO and social media comes from psychology, sociology, and communication, with a focus on defining the phenomenon. Few studies explore design or actionable solutions, a missing piece this project begins to address. Click 'Read More' for a deeper dive into the phenomenon.
“Defined as a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent, FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing.”
(Przybylski et al., 2013)
These findings suggest that social comparison and FoMO play a role in the link between passive SNS [social networking site] use, depressive symptoms, and self-perceptions, and that FoMO could result from online social comparison.
(Burnell et al., 2019)
"There were three phases of experiencing FoMO. The 1st phase is Recognition of Lagging in which a person knows he is lagging behind someone about something by seeing the pop-up notifications on social media or smartphone. The 2nd phase is Experiencing Feelings. After knowing he is lagging behind, a person with FoMO will start feeling various things such as fear of missing information, anxiety, and worry. The last phase is doing the action. Having multiple feelings at once encourages someone to do many things, either taking actions or doing nothing."
(Nursodiq et al., 2020)
Key Insights from the Literature Studies
*To keep this section concise and focused, only a few key insights are highlighted here
The Amplifying Effect of Social Media on FoMO
FOMO can happen anywhere, but social media amplifies it by giving us constant, immediate glimpses into others' lives.
FoMO’s Positive and Negative Impacts
FOMO is often associated with negative feelings, but it can also have positive effects by inspiring individuals to explore new opportunities and experiences.
Upward Social Comparison and FoMO
FOMO involves upward social comparison, where individuals compare their lives to others' seemingly fulfilling experiences.
Classifying Types of FoMO
Various studies have proposed different classifications for the types of FOMO.
The Phases of Experiencing FoMO
Studies have outlined different steps in experiencing FOMO, commonly categorized into three phases: triggers that cause FOMO, emotions experienced during FOMO, and actions taken in response.
Addictive Behaviors and Social Media
Social media fosters addictive behaviors by leveraging “social proof” and unpredictable rewards, drawing users away from real-world interactions and reducing their capacity for mindful awareness.
Designing for Engagement: Social Media and FoMO
Social media platforms are intentionally designed with algorithms and features (e.g., likes, stories) that encourage engagement and foster FoMO.
Pilot Tests
Tailoring Research to User Experiences
Before determining the next steps in the design research process, it was crucial to identify which research methods would best align with the project goals and support meaningful data collection. Pilot tests were conducted to explore different approaches for gathering user insights, focusing on methods that encouraged participants to share their experiences openly and authentically. These pilots helped evaluate which methods generated the most valuable data for both understanding user perspectives and shaping the actual data gathering phase.
User Interviews
Spotlight on Users: Identifying Well-matched Participants
Number of interviewees: 23 college students
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Conducted one-on-one recruiting interviews with college students across campus to identify eligible participants for future user research workshops.
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Opted for direct interactions over surveys to gain deeper insights and foster genuine engagement.
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Provided free donuts as an incentive to encourage participation in structured interviews.
Empowering Users: Co-Design
Co-design involves collaboration between professional designers and non-designers, enables participants to play a significant role in generating new design concepts
(Sanders & Stappers, 2008)
Co-Design: Where Users Become Creators
The co-design approach shifts the traditional method of designing for users to designing with users, facilitating structured activities that allow participants to articulate their thoughts, experiences, and needs.
This collaborative process not only empowers the co-designers but also grounds the study’s design interventions in authentic user perspectives, providing a robust foundation for subsequent stages of the design process.
A Spectrum of Perspectives:
I conducted interviews and distributed posters to recruit participants, who then completed a questionnaire about their FOMO experiences.
A total of 118 students completed the questionnaire and applied to participate in the workshops.
Participants were selected based on in-person interviews or their online questionnaire responses, ensuring a diverse group of individuals who regularly use social media and frequently experience FOMO to share their insights during the design workshop.
Co-Design Workshops in User Research (Focus Groups)
After selecting the right participants—college students who regularly experience FOMO on social media—two carefully designed 2-hour co-design workshops were conducted.
These workshops aimed to encourage participants to share their thoughts and opinions on the issue and collaboratively generate ideas to mitigate it.
Participants:
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Total of 21 participants across 2 workshops.
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Each workshop included around 10 participants, divided into two groups for collaboration.
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Duration: 2 hours
Workshop Outcomes
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Facilitated meaningful discussions among social media users who experience FOMO, providing a platform for shared understanding and connection.
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Participants shared personal experiences, pain points, and unmet needs related to FOMO through thoughtfully guided activities, which also enabled them to collectively generate actionable ideas for mitigating FOMO and improving social media experiences.
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Collected valuable user-centered data and insights from discussions and ideas, serving as inspiration and guidance for the next phase of the research.
Summary of Co-Design Workshop Activities I Personally Designed and Facilitated:
01
Learning about FOMO
- Educating participants on the concept of FOMO and its various forms in social media.
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Including short questions in their booklets to prompt reflection on their past social media user experiences with FOMO.
02
FOMO Spectrum
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Participants evaluated social media content, placing it on a spectrum from Positive to Negative FOMO. They added their own examples and discussed perspectives to explore how FOMO is experienced.
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Why this activity? It served as a warm-up to help participants feel comfortable and start collaborating in their new groups.
03
Reverse Problem Solving
Step 1: Make FOMO Worse!
Brainstorm ways to intensify FOMO on social media, focusing on quantity over quality.
Why this activity?
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Provides an easier starting point to help participants begin generating ideas.
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Encourages creativity and free thinking to uncover overlooked factors.
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Provides a foundation for generating innovative solutions in later steps.
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Reverse Problem Solving
Step 2: Flip the Script!
- Participants were tasked with developing new ideas to reduce FOMO on social media for college students, guided by prompts and provocations cards to support and enhance their ideation process
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Idea Clustering
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Each group was asked to identify common traits in their ideas, cluster them into groups, and generate additional ideas for each cluster.
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Groups briefly presented their work with the other group.
05
Idea Voting
Each participant voted for the best ideas within their group using three dots per person.
06
Final Idea Development
The most-voted idea was selected, placed on a template for naming, and further developed by answering a set of questions:
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What specific FOMO-related problem does this idea address?
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Write down a few details you would like to add to the idea.
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What unintended problems or negative effects could arise from this idea?
Groups briefly presented their work with the other group.
Data analysis
Affinity Mapping
Used Miro to organize insights from each method, helping to uncover common patterns across interviews and workshop activities.
Transcript Review
Reviewed interview transcripts along with in-group conversations from each activity to capture key quotes, emotional responses, and recurring experiences. Many valuable insights came from group discussions that were not shared during presentations but emerged in the smaller, more candid conversations.
Coding Synthesis
Used coding to identify different stages of experiencing FOMO on social media, based on users’ experiences. Also categorized the variety of ideas generated in the workshops into clear groups for easier comparison and synthesis.
Key Insights
Emotional Landscape of FOMO
FOMO Is Often Rationalized but Still Felt
Even when participants knew their feelings were irrational, they still experienced FOMO.
This shows a cognitive-emotional disconnect: Most users know in their minds that they’re not really missing anything important, but they still feel left out.
"I feel left out, but I know my feelings aren’t entirely rational."
FOMO Sometimes Motivates Positive Action
Some participants used FOMO to motivate themselves to reconnect with friends, try something new, or pursue personal goals.
"xxxxxxxxxxx"
The Double-Edged Emotion of FOMO
Many participants described feeling genuinely happy for others while simultaneously sensing that they were falling behind in life by not having the same experiences. It wasn’t jealousy, but rather a quiet comparison that made them question their own pace or path, even while celebrating someone else's moment.
"I’m happy for them, but I wish I was there."
Comparison quietly drains joy
FOMO is often fueled by social comparison. The more participants compared themselves to others, the more their sense of satisfaction diminished.
"Comparison is the thief of joy"
There’s always something being missed
Students often felt they were trading one important thing for another. Prioritizing academics meant missing out on social events, and the reverse was also true. This constant balancing act created a low-level tension and a quiet awareness that something was always being left behind.
"xxxxxxxxxxxx"
Self-awareness helps reduce the impact
Some participants were able to recognize their feelings of FOMO and shift their perspective. Reminding themselves that they were doing something worthwhile helped them move on more easily. Reframing the situation didn’t always erase the emotion, but it softened its impact.
"I wasn’t there because I was doing something important, but it still stings."
FINDING QUOTES?
Triggers and Patterns on Social Media
Types and Stages of FOMO
Development of UX Design Principles
Conclusion and Future Directions
Professional Growth and Reflections
Future Steps
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