Britain is a nation of young people increasingly suffering from the social anxiety phenomenon FOMO – the fear of missing out – with more than 36.5 million of them losing more sleep due to a night in rather than after a night out, due to excessive social media surfing.
New statistics released today by Vodafone show that young Brits admit to spending on average 74 minutes on social media before they go to sleep, often worrying that friends and family are having more fun than them. What’s more, young FOMO sufferers are often a sleepy bunch, with a startling 4.5 million young Brits admitting to scanning social networks after 2am.
The effects of FOMO are shown to be more extensive than just lost sleep with two in every five (39%) Brits under 25, claiming they’ve felt anxiety on having missed out on hot gigs or must-see events that their friends were attending.
Interestingly, it’s not just young Brits now feeling the effect of FOMO, as the nation is losing 55 hours a year from late night social surfing, causing people to miss their stops on public transport (30%) or even arrive at work with their clothes inside out (35%).
With changes to Instagram’s algorithm meaning an increased chance of missing friends posts and apps, such as Facebook, Twitter and SnapChat, not only presenting an endless stream of photos but depicting the ‘the best’ time other people are having the nation’s under 25s are under constant pressure to be online all the time. Continual lists of “must-see, visit, do or consume” is playing havoc with the nation’s sleep pattern – personal news feeds (58%), holiday snaps (36%) and party pictures (26%) were found to be the most popular content keeping Brits from slumber.
Helping to support Brits re-address the balance, Vodafone’s new broadband service enables customers to easily switch off their Wi-Fi with the touch of a button and can even set it to switch off automatically, ensuring that their enthusiasm to surf all night can be curbed.
“In our constantly connected world, it’s not uncommon for late night social surfers to suffer from FOMO due to an information overload – with many not recognising the problem, the solution is harder to see,” said David James, Head of Commercial Marketing.
“Whilst social media is a great tool to help us keep in touch and inspire us to make more of our time, it’s important to keep a healthy balance. With so much usage taking place after bedtime, we are hoping our new Broadband service will help customers switch off more easily – putting them firmly back in the driving seat when it comes to managing their sleep.”
Vodafone’s new broadband service works seamlessly with a companion app, the first app of its kind for home broadband, which gives users the ability to schedule when Wi-Fi is available and when it’s not on certain devices. Users can even set timers for the service to switch itself off when it’s time for bed ensuring the whole family is fit for school, work or play.