The Relation Between Being Permanently Online, Permanently Connected and Mental Health While Considering the Fear of Missing Out, Personality and Age

Introduction: With a rising trend of today’s society to be Permanently Online and Permanently Connected (POPC) its effects on mental health should be considered. The Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and personality have been found to be connected to POPC and mental health, therefore their moderating effect is investigated. Furthermore, the Big Five personality traits’ influence on POPC and age differences between young adults and middle-aged adults regarding POPC are explored. Methods: A total of 167 participants were examined in the cross-sectional study. The scales included the Online Vigilance Scale, the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, the Fear of Missing Out Scale, and the Big Five Inventory-10. Results. Results indicated that POPC has a significant negative relation with mental health. Yet, the moderation analysis of FoMO and personality on this relationship was not significant. In addition, it was found that the personality traits of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were significantly negatively correlated with POPC, while Neuroticism was significantly positively related to POPC. Additionally, young adults showed significantly higher POPC scores compared to middle-aged adults. Conclusion: Overall, this research further clarified the relationship between POPC and mental health while considering FoMO and personality. Moreover, POPC was differently related to personality and age.