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Forced isolation induced by COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted individuals' well-being, reducing the opportunities for social encounters, consequently resulting in a greater use of social media in order to maintain social relationships. Although the range of friend-related activities appeared to be severely constrained during quarantine, the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) needs to be carefully examined, especially in relation to problematic social networking site use (PSNSU). Indeed, FoMO might enhance individuals' need to stay connected and communicate with other people, leading to PSNSU, in order to face the fear of being invisible in the world of social media in circumstances of physical isolation. The present study sought to evaluate the predictive role of FoMO on PSNSU during the COVID-19 pandemic, testing the mediating effect of online relational closeness and online communication attitude. A total of 487 Italian adults (59.3% women), aged between 18 and 70 years (mean age = 29.85 years; SD = 9.76), responded to an online survey during the period of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy. The survey included self-report measures assessing perceived FoMO, online communication attitude, relational closeness with online friends, and PSNSU. Participants declared they spent significantly more time social networking during the pandemic, particularly women. The total model accounted for a significant amount of variance in participants' PSNSU [R2 = 0.54; F(9, 447) = 58.285, p < 0.001). Despite the other people's social rewarding experiences had been drastically reduced by the lockdown, findings showed a direct effect of FoMO on PSNSU. Moreover, FoMO had an effect on online communication attitude and online relational closeness, although only online communication attitude predicted, in turn, PSNSU. Conversely, relational closeness on social networking sites did not predict PSNSU. The present study suggests that, during COVID-19 lockdown, FoMO levels may have strengthened attitudes toward online communication, which, in turn, may have put some individuals at risk of PSNSU.

Forced isolation induced by COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted individuals' well-being, reducing the opportunities for social encounters, consequently resulting in a greater use of social media in order to maintain social relationships. Although the range of friend-related activities appeared to be severely constrained during quarantine, the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) needs to be carefully examined, especially in relation to problematic social networking site use (PSNSU). Indeed, FoMO might enhance individuals' need to stay connected and communicate with other people, leading to PSNSU, in order to face the fear of being invisible in the world of social media in circumstances of physical isolation. The present study sought to evaluate the predictive role of FoMO on PSNSU during the COVID-19 pandemic, testing the mediating effect of online relational closeness and online communication attitude. A total of 487 Italian adults (59.3% women), aged between 18 and 70 years (mean age = 29.85 years; SD = 9.76), responded to an online survey during the period of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Italy. The survey included self-report measures assessing perceived FoMO, online communication attitude, relational closeness with online friends, and PSNSU. Participants declared they spent significantly more time social networking during the pandemic, particularly women. The total model accounted for a significant amount of variance in participants' PSNSU [ R 2 = 0.54; F (9, 447) = 58.285, p < 0.001). Despite the other people's social rewarding experiences had been drastically reduced by the lockdown, findings showed a direct effect of FoMO on PSNSU. Moreover, FoMO had an effect on online communication attitude and online relational closeness, although only online communication attitude predicted, in turn, PSNSU. Conversely, relational closeness on social networking sites did not predict PSNSU. The present study suggests that, during COVID-19 lockdown, FoMO levels may have strengthened attitudes toward online communication, which, in turn, may have put some individuals at risk of PSNSU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon online communication attitude research, this article explains why people use certain media in their social relationships by offering an initial formulation and test of media enjoyment theory (MET). We investigated whether medium enjoyment mediated the effects of social influence and communication competence on media use. We proposed that perceived miscommunication would moderate the mediating effect of medium enjoyment. Results were consistent with MET across voice phone calls, email, text messaging, and Facebook. The results indicate an indirect effect of social influence and communication competence on media use through the mediator of medium enjoyment. The pattern of mediation was strongest when participants held low levels of perceived miscommunication. These results suggest that people are most likely to use media when they perceive high levels of enjoyment from medium and low levels of perceived miscommunication. Theoretical implications highlight how MET can be developed in multimodal and dyadic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous work has begun to incorporate psychological constructs into our understanding of media multiplexity (i.e., use of multiple media in a single interpersonal relationship). Following this approach, this investigation examined how a user's enjoyment of a communication medium might both predict medium use frequency and alter the extent to which closeness is an outcome of such use. Results supported this model across six popular interpersonal communication media (voice telephone, text messaging, e-mail, instant messaging, video chat, and social networking sites) in relationships with extended family members. Specifically, at low levels of medium enjoyment, use of a medium was not associated with relational closeness. Practically, these results suggest that communicating via an unsatisfying medium may not foster relational closeness; theoretically, these results argue for including psychological processes to strengthen MMT as a theory of interpersonal media choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given Facebook’s popularity for the maintenance of interpersonal relationships, this investigation examined the extent to which frequency of Facebook communication with a specific friend predicts relational interdependence. The chief goal of the investigation was to extend media multiplexity theory by examining whether attitudes toward (a) online self-disclosure and (b) online social connection moderated this association. Results not only replicated previous findings that multiple media are associated with relational interdependence, but also supported the hypothesized moderation of online communication attitude. Based on these results, the manuscript explores how media multiplexity theory might be extended to account for communicator cognitions about communication media. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]