FoMO and the brain: Loneliness and problematic social networking site use mediate the association between the topology of the resting-state EEG brain network and fear of missing out

Fear of missing out (FoMO) is a pervasive apprehension that others might have rewarding experiences from which one is absent. Recently, FoMO has been considered a negative aspect of social media's popularity. However, the neural basis of FoMO remains unknown. Here, we examined the relationship between the topology of the resting-state electroencephalography (rs-EEG) brain network and FoMO and developed a theoretical model with loneliness and problematic social networking sites (SNS) use as mediators to explain the association be-tween the topology and FoMO in 113 young adults. Minimum spanning tree analysis revealed that the high FoMO group's rs-EEG brain network had a higher Kappa and leaf fraction in the alpha band than the low FoMO group's network, indicating that emergence of FoMO is based on excessive scale-free brain networks. Impor-tantly, the association between alpha-band Kappa and FoMO was partially mediated by loneliness and prob-lematic SNS use. Multiple mediation analyses revealed sequential mediation by loneliness and problematic SNS use. To our knowledge, this is the first study to consider FoMO from the perspective of a complex brain network. Our results provide neuroscientific evidence that loneliness, namely a lack of psychological need satisfaction, influences FoMO, while SNS provide platforms for this influence to propagate.