New Ideas Concerning Arts and Social Studies Vol. 8

Background: Social media has become an integral part of daily life, with billions of people using it each day to connect with loved ones, stay informed, and consume entertainment. Additionally, shopping is a common pastime that many people view as innocent yet essential to the modern lifestyle. Almost everyone enjoys shopping for and purchasing non-essential products to some extent. Spending excessive time on social media has become widespread in today's digital era and has been linked to various negative consequences. On the other hand, FOMO is a social media-related anxiety characterised by a fear of missing out on exciting or interesting events and is often associated with constant updates, notifications, posts, and social media overuse. The research explores whether social media overuse and fear of missing out contribute to the development of compulsive or impulsive buying behaviour.

Methods: A quantitative non-experimental survey design anchored in a positivist paradigm was used in this study to investigate the extent to which social media overuse and fear of missing out influence impulsive buying behaviour and compulsive buying behaviour. This study used an Internet-based survey and a printed questionnaire, which were both cost-effective and beneficial for reaching a large number of people in a short period across a vast geographic area. Online survey data from 249 Indian young adults who actively use social media were collected using the Social Networking Addiction Scale, Fear of Missing Out Scale, Compulsive Buying Scale, and Impulsive Buying Scale. Mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were used as descriptive statistics.

Results: The study revealed a strong positive correlation between Social Media Overuse and Fear of Missing Out, implying that individuals with greater social media overuse are more likely to experience a heightened fear of missing out. This connection is attributed to social media platforms fostering engagement and exposing users to various products, thereby creating a sense of urgency. Results from multiple regression analyses revealed that increased social media use among individuals who feared missing out predicted heightened impulsive buying tendencies and compulsive buying behaviour. Additionally, mediation analysis suggested that impulsive buying behaviour acts as a mediator, whereby excessive social media use induces impulsive buying tendencies that can contribute to compulsive buying behaviour to mitigate anxiety and avoid the fear of missing out.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this research provides a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationships between social media addiction, fear of missing out, and impulsive and compulsive buying behaviours. The attraction of social media and its ability to trigger compulsive purchasing may present a risk to sustainable growth. This research may contribute to social change by informing policy and instruction on digital media literacy, regulation of social media use, therapeutic interventions provided by educational institutions, and psychological services provided by other organisations, all of which may enhance young adults' mental health and well-being.