Research Hit: FOMO and Information Overload Increases Burnout and Decreases Mental Health

Study shows that both information overload and fear of missing out increase stress, burnout symptoms, and mental health issues

So isn’t FOMO and information overload a contradiction?

Yes, indeed these are kind of opposite: if you have too much information how can you miss out on information. But they could also be mutually influential in that if you have lots of information you are more sensitive to missing out on some information.

So what did these researchers do?

Elizabeth Marsh et al. of the University of Nottingham wanted to investigate the dark side to digital working and collected data from 142 employees. They investigated the demands and resources of the job and how employees were feeling when working mostly digitally.

And what were the results?

The results showed that those who are felt overloaded with information but also had anxiety about missing out were more likely to be suffering from stress and burnout. Simply they had lower mental wellbeing.

This was in digital working though?