The role of fear of missing out and short video flow experience in the relationship between anxiety and short video addiction

Turk-Kurtca T.

CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY, cilt.45, sa.2, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 45 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s12144-025-08543-y
  • Dergi Adı: CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, BIOSIS, Psycinfo
  • Trakya Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Short videos are watched and shared by many people. They have a variety of content such as entertainment, language learning, practical cooking, etc. Short video platforms encourage users to browse videos for longer periods by recommending videos related to the content of the videos they watched. This study aimed to explore how short-video flow experience (SVFE) and fear of missing out (FoMO) influence the relationship between anxiety and problematic short-video use (defined as SVA). Participants included 751 university students, of whom about three quarters were female (75.5%). Participants were 751 university students, about three-quarters of whom were female (75.5%), with ages ranging from 18 to 29 years (M = 20.9, SD = 1.98). PROCESS (Model 6) was used to analyze the data. Data analysis showed that SVFE and FoMO explained anxiety and SVA among college students. The results revealed that both SVFE and FoMO significantly accounted for the relationship between anxiety and SVA. Overall, these results highlight the emotional and motivational mechanisms underlying the increasing appeal of short-video content and the sustained engagement it elicits from users.