Publication date: Sep 19, 2025
The role of social media in daily life has been growing, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has increased the problem of online vigilance (OV), which is a psychological connection towards social media, even when not actively engaging in it. Being online has previously been associated with adverse effects on mental health (MH). However, research on the effects of OV on MH, as well as related concepts like stress and fear of missing out (FoMO), is limited. The current study investigated the relationship between OV, MH, stress, and FoMO. The moderating effects of participants’ age and gender were examined. 260 individuals participated in this cross-sectional online study, which contained the Online Vigilance Scale, Mental Health Continuum Short Form, Perceived Stress Scale, and Fear of Missing Out Scale. The data were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation and (moderated) mediation analyses. Findings indicate a negative association between OV and MH. Stress mediates this relationship, while evidence of FoMO being a moderator is lacking. No moderation effect of age or gender on the mediated relationship between OV and MH was found. This study significantly contributed to previous literature by elaborating on the relationships between OV, MH, stress, and FoMO. The findings can be utilised to raise awareness of the negative impacts OV can have on MH. Managing stress levels could reduce adverse mental health outcomes. Nonetheless, future research is needed to replicate the results to increase the generalisability and further validate the findings.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Covid | Mental health |
| Daily | Online vigilance |
| Moderator | Stress |
| Pandemic | |
| Vigilance |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | IDO | role |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 pandemic |