Phubbing and Loneliness in the Digital Age: A Daily Diary Study on the Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Smartphone use is ubiquitous, yet its impact on social behavior remains a concern. As the act of snubbing others in social settings by using a mobile phone, phubbing is often linked to feelings of loneliness and fear of missing out. However, the day‐to‐day temporal interactions between these variables are not well understood. This study investigated the within‐person fluctuations and directional relationships among loneliness, FoMO, and phubbing in daily life.

Methods

A daily diary approach was employed with a sample of 309 middle school students (49% male; M_age = 13.38, SD = 0.87) who participated in a 14‐day intensive longitudinal assessment period. Data were analyzed using residual dynamic structural equation modeling (RDSEM) to examine the temporal relationships and mediating effects among the variables at the within‐person level.

Results

Phubbing on a given day predicted a subsequent increase in FoMO the next day; conversely, heightened FoMO also predicted increased phubbing behavior the following day. Loneliness on 1 day predicted an increase in both phubbing and FoMO the following day. Furthermore, the analysis revealed a significant day‐to‐day mediating effect of FoMO in the relationship between phubbing and loneliness.

Conclusions

These findings reveal the within‐person dynamics among loneliness, FoMO, and phubbing in daily life, highlighting loneliness as a driver of next‐day phubbing and identifying FoMO as a process linking these experiences, with implications for prevention and intervention strategies to improve adolescent digital well‐being.

1. Introduction

Loneliness is a rising public health concern, connected to depression, anxiety, and even physical health risks (Nowland et al. 2018). Yet in a rather ironic twist, in an era marked by unprecedented advancements in communication technology, loneliness appears to be reaching its zenith. Research increasingly indicates a decline in the quality of interpersonal connections and a heightened experience of individual loneliness in the digital age (Fukuya et al. 2025). This trend is particularly pronounced among the digitally native younger generations, where elevated rates of loneliness are consistently reported (Twenge 2017). Technological advancements designed to connect others may paradoxically serve as barriers to genuine emotional connection, underscoring the need to examine specific technology‐mediated behaviors that may actively undermine the very social connections they are meant to foster.

Phubbing refers to the act of ignoring one's present company or social environment by focusing on one's smartphone, thereby disrupting communication and potentially diminishing the quality of interpersonal interactions (Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas 2016). Studies found a bidirectional and potentially vicious cycle, in which initial feelings of loneliness may drive individuals to engage more frequently in phubbing as a coping strategy, yet this very behavior subsequently intensifies their sense of isolation and dissatisfaction within interpersonal relationships (Chmielik et al. 2025). While prior work has established phubbing's detrimental effects on relationship satisfaction and perceived social exclusion from the phubbed person's perspective (Vanden Abeele 2020), there remains a critical gap in understanding its day‐to‐day implications for the phubber's own fluctuating loneliness experiences.

Meanwhile, this intricate interplay may, in part, be explained by the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). Given that FoMO acts as both a heightened emotional sensitivity to social exclusion and a potent cognitive driver of compulsive digital engagement (Montag et al. 2023), it represents a plausible psychological bridge that may both trigger phubbing in response to loneliness and subsequently translate compromised social interactions back into deeper isolation. Investigating FoMO's role as a mediator will provide deeper insights into the underlying psychological processes connecting these daily experiences. Moreover, most relevant studies conducted in the past have used samples of college students (Piko et al. 2025; Tufan et al. 2025). Rather than early adulthood, adolescence is a critical period for the development of social habits and emotional health (Lee et al. 2020). Therefore, the current study aims to investigate the daily interplay among phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness at the within‐person level in adolescents using a daily diary design. Studying the daily links among phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness is crucial to understanding how modern technology use shapes interpersonal experiences, identifying underlying psychological mechanisms, and ultimately informing interventions to promote healthier digital and social behaviors.

1.1. The Relationship Between Daily Loneliness and Adolescents' Phubbing

Phubbing, as a socially disruptive behavior, the conscious act of focusing one's attention on a smartphone or digital device while ignoring those physically present, has become a significant societal phenomenon in the digital era, reflecting how technology use can fundamentally alter human interaction and emotional bonds (Sun and Samp 2021). Phubbing differs from broader concepts like problematic smartphone use or social media addiction because it specifically highlights diverted gaze and body posture toward the smartphone, entailing the intended or unintended temporary disregard of the phubbee, thereby causing interference with and exclusion from the ongoing interaction (Nuñez and Radtke 2023). While social media addiction involves compulsive online engagement, and problematic smartphone use encompasses a pattern of impaired self‐regulation manifested as compulsive smartphone checking, disruption of daily routines and social functioning, and the emergence of psychological burdens, phubbing centers specifically on behavior occurring in co‐present social settings and their consequences for others and for relational well‐being (Holtzman et al. 2025; Nawaz 2024). In contrast, problematic smartphone use and smartphone addiction focus primarily on the individual's relationship with their device, such as usage frequency, withdrawal symptoms, and functional impairment, rather than on the social dynamics of interpersonal interaction (Karadağ et al. 2015). The “Alone Together” paradox, as conceptualized by Turkle (2011), poignantly describes a contemporary social landscape where individuals are physically present with others yet mentally tethered to their digital worlds. Within this framework, phubbing emerges as a definitive manifestation of this fragmented presence. By focusing on phubbing, we capture a context‑specific, interactional behavior that directly reflects how smartphone use impairs relational connections in social settings. This concept helps us differentiate technology use from impaired self‑control, compulsive tendencies, and motivations such as boredom or habitual checking (Maia and Sousa 2024). This interpersonal dimension makes phubbing a more precise construct for examining how technology use disrupts ongoing social relationships.

The erosion of social connection through phubbing is driven by specific interactional disruptions and psychological mechanisms. Research reveals that the direct interruption of ongoing conversation, rather than phone obsession, is the primary catalyst for individuals feeling snubbed or neglected (Błachnio and Przepiorka 2019). Based on the Need‐to‐Belong Threat Model (Williams 2009), Vanden Abeele et al. (2016) argue that phubbing functions as a potent form of social exclusion. This behavior signals a relational devaluation, leading the phubbed individual to perceive their presence as less important than the digital content. Such perceived rejection often triggers passive‐aggressive responses, such as the silent treatment, which further chills the interpersonal atmosphere. Consequently, this cycle of interference and perceived devaluation inevitably results in mutual relational alienation and emotional coldness, reinforcing the state of being “alone together” even in shared physical spaces (Maftei and Măirean 2023). Loneliness is not a static trait but a dynamic state. Fluctuations in loneliness within the same individual may emerge on days when an individual engages in more phubbing than usual. We propose that an individual feels lonelier on days when they engage in higher‐than‐average phubbing.

Nevertheless, loneliness itself may also be a motivating factor for individuals to engage in phubbing behaviors. Loneliness, defined as the distressing subjective feeling brought on by a perceived discrepancy between intended and real social interactions, can drive individuals to phub as a way of seeking connection or distraction through their phones (Berezan et al. 2020). Drawing on the Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness (ETL; Cacioppo and Cacioppo 2018) and its recent applications in digital contexts (e.g., Meshi and Ellithorpe 2021), loneliness serves as an adaptive biological signal that triggers a social re‐affiliation motive. When individuals feel socially isolated, the brain drives a motivation to seek out others, similar to how hunger motivates a search for food. The impulsivity triggered by acute states of loneliness makes individuals less willing to invest the time and cognitive effort needed for in‐person connection. Instead, they pivot toward the low‐barrier social snacks available on their phones (Gardner et al. 2005), which may lead to a spike in daily phubbing as a maladaptive response to their immediate social hunger. For example, individuals who feel lonely may turn toward their devices for social media, messaging, or browsing as a substitute for direct social engagement, using phubbing as an escape or a temporary balm for their unmet social needs (Peleg and Boniel‐Nissim 2024). However, such digital social snacks often fail to provide substantive social support or a true sense of belonging (Garrido et al. 2021). Instead, they may displace high‐quality offline interactions (Stevic et al. 2025) and limit opportunities for emotional connection and mutual support in real life (Garrett et al. 2023). We therefore propose a vicious cycle at the within‐person level, that daily loneliness triggers phubbing as an impulsive but ineffective coping mechanism, which in turn exacerbates loneliness by eroding immediate social ties. Understanding this relationship helps in identifying how excessive or inappropriate phone use affects human connections and mental health, ultimately guiding efforts to promote healthier communication habits and reduce loneliness in an increasingly digital world.

1.2. The Role of FoMO

Being aware of the role of the FoMO in the link between phubbing and loneliness is essential because it adds a crucial psychological layer to why individuals engage in phubbing despite feeling socially disconnected themselves or feel lonely after heightened phubbing behaviors. FoMO is characterized by a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent (Przybylski et al. 2013). Greater loneliness and increased phubbing behavior are linked to heightened FoMO (Türk and Koçyiğit 2025).

The study found that an extensive online network might lead to a technological imbalance. Greater online presence increases sensitivity to absent information and heightens responsiveness to online connections (Duradoni et al. 2024). The research also revealed that being online is more strongly associated with the core characteristic of maintaining connections in FoMO (Groenestein et al. 2024; Elhai et al. 2025). The act of phubbing on 1 day exposes individuals to a stream of curated social information online, in which observing the idealized portrayals of others' lives may heighten both a sense of missing out on valued experiences and a need to remain continually connected (Amirthalingam and Khera 2024). FoMO erodes individuals' sense of meaning and comprehensibility in life, disrupts authentic face‐to‐face relationships, and undermines a sense of belonging, thereby heightening loneliness (Zhou et al. 2025). We further propose a spillover effect of phubbing. Specifically, we hypothesize that phubbing triggers a heightened level of FoMO on the following day, which subsequently exacerbates individuals' loneliness.

Furthermore, heightened feelings of loneliness on a given day may amplify FoMO on the subsequent day. The Social Baseline Theory (SBT; Beckes and Coan 2011) suggests that humans have evolved to expect social interaction and support, and that the absence of these things creates a state of heightened stress and vulnerability. When individuals experience a deviation from their expected social baseline on a particular day, feeling more isolated than usual, they might become more attuned to social cues suggesting that others are having more fulfilling experiences, leading them to fear missing out on potential opportunities for connection (Alinejad et al. 2022). Additionally, according to I‐PACE (Brand et al. 2019), when lonely individuals face the risk of social exclusion, they experience a heightened affective and cognitive response. Specifically, FoMO may function as the mediating cognitive‐affective state of the fear of being disconnected or socially isolated from one's peer group. To mitigate this intense anxiety and fulfill the thwarted need for belonging, individuals execute Phubbing as a compensatory, albeit dysfunctional, coping mechanism (Ansari et al. 2024). Thus, phubbing is not merely a habit but an active behavior intended to regain a sense of connection, even though it may paradoxically disrupt real‐world social interactions and reinforce the cycle of loneliness (Tanhan et al. 2023). Accordingly, we hypothesize that loneliness will trigger next‐day FoMO, and this elevated FoMO subsequently predicts greater phubbing.

By investigating the function of FoMO in the connection between phubbing and loneliness, researchers benefit from shifting the focus from viewing phubbing simply as negligent or rude behavior toward understanding it as a coping mechanism intertwined with emotional needs, such as the desire for meaningful social connections, leading to more effective solutions for mitigating loneliness in the technologically connected yet frequently emotionally estranged world of today.

1.3. The Present Study

Despite significant advancements in understanding phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness, most existing research relies on cross‐sectional or retrospective designs that capture a static snapshot of participants' psychological states and behaviors (Malik et al. 2025; Taj et al. 2025). Such designs limit the ability to uncover the dynamic and reciprocal nature of the relationships among these constructs (Maier et al. 2023). Loneliness, phubbing, and FoMO are inherently fluctuating experiences that vary within individuals over time and context (Thomas et al. 2022; Wilson and Koffer 2025). Cross‐sectional studies cannot effectively disentangle whether FoMO precedes phubbing or vice versa, nor can they clarify how loneliness and FoMO influence daily phubbing behavior, which limits understanding of its real‐world applicability. Furthermore, much of the existing evidence is derived from longitudinal designs in which measurements are taken over long intervals, potentially obscuring temporal patterns due to recall bias or averaging effects (Kelly et al. 2024).

Taken together, this study aims to explore the longitudinal reciprocal relationship between daily phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness. Specifically, this study aimed to (a) investigate the within‐person temporal stability of phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness, (b) test the within‐person cross‐lagged effect of phubbing on loneliness and vice versa, and (c) examine whether FoMO acts as a mediator in the link between phubbing and loneliness at the within‐level. Based on the findings of prior empirical research, we hypothesized that,

Hypothesis 1

Daily phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness each demonstrate significant within‐person inertia, such that an individual's level of each state on a given day positively predicts their level on the subsequent day, reflecting the temporal stability of these experiences.

Hypothesis 2

There are within‐person cross‐lagged effects between phubbing and loneliness, such that more phubbing on a previous day may lead to a higher sense of loneliness on the next day, and vice versa, a higher sense of loneliness on a previous day may predict more phubbing behaviors on the next day.

Hypothesis 3

Within individuals, FoMO mediates the longitudinal relationship between phubbing and loneliness, serving as a mechanism through which phubbing influences next‐day loneliness, and potentially vice versa.

2. Methods

2.1. Participants

We recruited 380 middle school students in China for a paper‐based survey to collect basic demographic information. Of these, 337 consented to participate in the daily diary survey for 14 days continuously, which assessed their everyday levels of loneliness, phubbing, and FoMO. Students were excluded from this study if they (a) voluntarily terminated their involvement prior to study completion, (b) had response periods shorter than 7 days, (c) did not sign informed consent, and (d) response patterns were indicative of careless responding (e.g., provided identical responses across entire scales). Of the 337 participants, data from 309 participants were utilized in the present analysis. To address potential concerns related to the exclusion criteria, we conducted the same model analyses using the full sample. Results from these analyses, detailed in the sensitivity analysis in the Supporting Information S1: Table S1, were consistent with our primary findings.

The final sample consisted of 152 males (49.2%) and 157 females (50.8%). The sample's average age was 13.38 years (SD_age = 0.87; range = 12–15 years), with 103 (33.3%) from Grade 7, 90 (29.1%) from Grade 8, and 116 (37.5%) from Grade 9. There were 86.4% (267) participants from the countryside and 13.6% (42) from the city. The average response rate was 13.11 ± 1.37 beeps.

2.2. Procedures

Initially, one public middle school was randomly selected from the official registry provided by the municipal education bureau to enhance sample representativeness. Following authorization of daily dairy design by the school administration and teachers, participants completed paper‐based questionnaires during standardized 10 min sessions, administered daily at a fixed time by trained researchers. Participants who failed to submit responses by the deadline were recorded as incomplete for that day. To mitigate order effects, we implemented complete item sequence randomization for each daily survey, including explicit instructions emphasizing participants' unconditional right to withdraw. At the end of the assessment period, completers received standardized reward kits (school supplies and snacks) to express our sincere appreciation for their conscientious engagement throughout the study. In total, we collected 4056 effective observations from 309 students.

2.3. Daily Measures

To reduce participant burden and prevent survey fatigue in this daily diary design (Gunthert and Wenze 2012), we used validated abbreviated scales (e.g., Haddox et al. 2026; Murray et al. 2023) instead of full‐length measures. This strategy maximizes compliance and data completeness, as widely validated in intensive longitudinal research.

2.4. Loneliness

Russell (1996) developed the UCLA Loneliness Scale, which was used to assess the loneliness levels of participants. The scale consists of 20 items, where the response is graded using a four‐point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 4 = entirely). Following previous daily diary studies, we utilized an averaged composite of five items to measure daily loneliness (Buecker et al. 2020; Meng et al. 2020), which were selected to reduce daily burden on participants. To assess daily loneliness, participants reported how they felt lonely in the past 24 h (e.g., During the past 24 h, how lonely have you felt). The multilevel reliability analysis substantiated the one‐factor model's internal consistency, with appropriate within‐person (ω _w = 0.80) and between‐person (ω _Β = 0.98) reliability coefficients. Additionally, MCFA results corroborated the one‐dimensionality of the loneliness construct at both the within‐person and between‐person levels (χ ² = 76.68, df = 9, CFI = 0.970, TLI = 0.933, RMSEA = 0.043, SRMR_within = 0.016 and SRMR_between = 0.023).

2.5. Phubbing

Adolescents' phubbing behaviors were assessed using the Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP; Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas 2018a). The GSP showed a 15‐item four‐factor structure, including nomophobia (Anxiety about being without a mobile phone or beyond mobile phone contact), interpersonal conflict (Conflicts arising between the individual and others due to phone use), self‐isolation (Deliberate or unconscious withdrawal from social interaction because of phone use), and problem acknowledgment (Awareness or recognition that phone use is problematic or interfering with life or relationships). Following a previous study (Thomas et al. 2022), we used four items to assess daily phubbing behaviors, with each item representing one dimension of the construct (e.g., During the past 24 h, I would rather pay attention to my phone than talk to others). The multilevel reliability analysis showed good internal consistency, with within‐person (ω _w = 0.85) and between‐person (ω _Β = 0.96) coefficients. The MCFA results corroborated the one‐dimensionality of the phubbing construct at both the within‐person and between‐person levels (χ ² = 51.73, df = 4, CFI = 0.973, TLI = 0.919, RMSEA = 0.054, SRMR_within = 0.028 and SRMR_between = 0.020).

2.6. FoMO

FoMO was assessed using the Chinese version (Q. Li et al. 2019) of Przybylski et al.'s (2013) Fear of Missing Out scale. The scale consists of 10 items, scored from 1 “Not at all true of me” to 5 “Extremely true of me.” We utilized an averaged composite of three items to measure daily FoMO (e.g., During the past 24 h, I feel upset when I find out that my friends had fun without me), previously employed in daily diary studies (C. Li et al. 2023). Higher average scores indicate higher levels of FoMO. This scale showed good reliability and validity in a Chinese sample (P. Wang et al. 2018). The MCFA results showed a saturated model. The multilevel reliability analysis was further supported by adequate multilevel reliability, with within‐person (ω _w = 0.73) and between‐person (ω _Β = 0.96) coefficients, reflecting good internal consistency.

2.7. Statistical Analysis

We prepared data in SPSS Version 26, calculated descriptive statistics, and correlations between main variables. Then, we assessed the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and modeled data with residual dynamic structural equation modeling (RDSEM) in Mplus Version 8.3 (Muthén and Muthén 2017).

Align with the I‐PACE theoretical framework, which emphasizes state‐specific changes induced by contextual triggers. While individuals possess stable traits, I‐PACE posits that daily fluctuations in affect and cognition, prompted by specific events, can lead to state‐level changes in behaviors like Phubbing. RDSEM provides a powerful statistical multilevel modeling, which allows us to uncover the specific temporal dynamics that unfold within each person, which is critical for understanding the immediate, context‐dependent changes theorized by the I‐PACE model. The RDSEM can test between‐person and within‐person associations of daily loneliness, phubbing, and FoMO. RDSEM is a specific parameterization within the broader Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (DSEM) framework. Its defining characteristic is that the autoregressive and cross‐lagged effects are modeled directly on the residuals of the observed variables after accounting for person‐specific means (Asparouhov and Muthén 2019), thereby ensuring that the longitudinal relationships between within‐person level variables are driven more purely by genuine internal fluctuation effects (Asparouhov and Muthén 2023).

RDSEM separates its decomposition into two levels: the within‐person level (level 1) and the between‐person level (level 2). This modeling is capable of simultaneously handling random effects, autoregressive structures, individual differences, and allowing parameters to vary randomly (Asparouhov and Muthén 2023). Within‐person level captures the dynamic, time‐varying processes within each individual. It models how an individual's fluctuations around their own mean on one variable (e.g., daily phubbing) predict subsequent fluctuations in themselves (autoregressive effect) and in other variables (cross‐lagged effects). This allows us to isolate the temporal sequences at the intraindividual level. Between‐person level captures stable, trait‐like differences between individuals (S. Zheng et al. 2021). It models the person‐specific means of the variables and can investigate how these traits correlate with one another, which is essential for studying phenomena that fluctuate repeatedly within a day or across days (Sened et al. 2018). Detailed model specifications, including specific path diagrams and equations, can be found in the Supporting Information S1: Figure S1.

This RDSEM was estimated using a Bayesian approach, and employed 10,000 Markov Chain Monte Carlo iterations and two chains for parameter estimation. The RDSEM assumes that the residuals at both within‐ and between‐person levels are multivariate normally distributed (Asparouhov and Muthén 2023). It requires that the residual‐based dynamic process is stationary, meaning its mean and variance do not exhibit systematic trends over time. To account for potential linear trends in the data, a time index variable was included as a covariate in the within‐level model. This approach helps to account for potential linear trends, allowing the estimated dynamic parameters to better reflect processes that are not dominated by systematic changes over time.

To handle missing data, Mplus restructured the data onto a discrete time grid with 1‐day intervals by inserting missing values for time points without observations. The subsequent Kalman filter within the DSEM framework then optimally handles these inserted missing values during model estimation to optimally inform the latent states at missing time points, allowing all available information to be used in parameter estimation (Asparouhov et al. 2018; Hamaker et al. 2023; Harvey 1990). With Markov Chain Monte Carlo, the 95% highest posterior density (HPD) credible intervals were used as the Bayesian interval estimator. If the 95% confidence interval of the path does not contain 0, this path is significant (Fang et al. 2024).

3. Results

3.1. Preliminary Analysis

First, descriptive statistics, ICCs, and correlations were calculated at both the between‐person and within‐person levels. As shown in Table 1, the ICC for loneliness indicated that 56.0% of the variance was between‐person variance and 44.0% within‐person variance. For FoMO, 39.8% of the variance was attributed to within‐person variation, and 60.2% to between‐person variation. Furthermore, the ICC for phubbing indicated that 73.3% of the variance was between‐person variance, and 26.7% was within‐person variance. The between‐person and within‐person correlations of loneliness, FoMO, and phubbing were all significantly positive.

Table 1.

Descriptive statistics, ICC, and correlation coefficient.

	M	SDw	SDb	ICC	1	2	3
1. Loneliness	1.72	0.96	0.51	0.560		0.60	0.43
2. FoMO	1.91	0.66	0.76	0.602	0.73		0.46
3. Phubbing	2.44	1.46	1.27	0.733	0.49	0.54

Note: SD^w, standard deviation at within‐person level; SD^b, standard deviation at between‐person level; between‐person correlations located in the below diagonal; within‐person correlations located in the above diagonal.

3.2. RDSEM for Loneliness, FoMO, and Phubbing

The PSR values in the current study remained consistently below 1.1 after 100 iterations, indicating that the Markov chains converged properly (Gelman et al. 2013). To further verify convergence, we doubled the number of iterations and found that all PSR values remained below 1.1 and stable. The DIC for the RDSEM mediation model was 15,868.87. The model explained 33.0% of within‐person variability in phubbing, 29.1% in FoMO, and 31.9% in loneliness.

The autoregressive parameters were significant and positive, indicating a certain inertia in daily experiences. This suggests that deviations from an individual's average levels of phubbing, FoMO, or loneliness were substantially maintained into the following day, showing day‐to‐day persistence. For the cross‐lagged parameters (displayed in Table 2 and Figure 1), phubbing predicted FoMO of the next day (β = 0.062 [0.025, 0.101]), and in turn, FoMO predicted phubbing of the next day (β = 0.036 [0.002, 0.070]). Daily loneliness predicted phubbing the next day (β = 0.041 [0.006, 0.079]) and FoMO the next day (β = 0.110 [0.071, 0.154]). However, phubbing did not predict loneliness the next day (β = 0.001 [−0.035, 0.042]). As well, FoMO did not predict loneliness the next day (β = 0.015 [−0.027, 0.052]).

Table 2.

Parameter estimates in RDSEM.

Predictor	Notation	Estimate	Posterior SD	95% CI
Autoregressions
Phubbingt‐1→Phubbingt	β Phubbingj	0.266*	0.029	[0.215, 0.327]
FoMOt‐1→FoMOt	β FoMOj	0.157*	0.025	[0.113, 0.210]
Lonelinesst‐1→Lonelinesst	β Lonelinessj	0.313*	0.028	[0.257, 0.366]
Cross‐lagged effects
Phubbingt‐1→Lonelinesst	c ' 1j	0.001	0.020	[−0.035, 0.042]
Phubbingt‐1→FoMOt	a 1j	0.062*	0.020	[0.025, 0.101]
FoMOt‐1→Lonelinesst	b 1j	0.015	0.020	[−0.027, 0.052]
Lonelinesst‐1→Phubbingt	c ' 2j	0.041*	0.019	[0.006, 0.079]
FoMOt‐1→Phubbingt	a 2j	0.036*	0.017	[0.002, 0.070]
Lonelinesst‐1→FoMOt	b 2j	0.110*	0.022	[0.071, 0.154]

Note: *Significance is based on the credible interval not containing zero.

Figure 1.

Within‐person pathway for phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness. Note: *Significance is based on the credible interval not containing zero; time as a predictor is omitted to reduce clutter in the diagram presentation.

To evaluate the hypothesized relations between phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness, we also tested a day‐to‐day mediating effect of FoMO by controlling the direct effect from phubbing on loneliness and vice versa. Since the b₁‐path (FoMO_t‐1 →Loneliness_t) was not significant, we did not test the indirect effect of phubbing on loneliness through FoMO. We examined the mediating effect of FoMO in the relationship between loneliness_t‐1 and phubbing_t, finding that the average mediation effect of FoMO was significant at 0.012, with a confidence interval of [0.001, 0.028] after controlling for the average direct effect of loneliness_t‐1 on phubbing_t (c'₂‐path = 0.041). This indicated that the relationship between loneliness_t‐1 and phubbing_t was partially mediated, suggesting the role of FoMO in facilitating the impact of loneliness on phubbing over time at the daily fluctuation level.

4. Discussion

The current study examined the daily associations among phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness. Using a daily diary design, we explored how phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness influence each other in their daily assessments. Specifically, we examined the lagged effect of phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness from the previous day to the following day. We also examined the mediating role of FoMO to the relationship between phubbing and loneliness on a day‐to‐day basis. Several key findings are discussed below.

First, in accordance with our Hypothesis 1, we found that phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness exhibit stable patterns of these experiences across days, demonstrating day‐to‐day consistency. This temporal stability indicates that these experiences are not merely fleeting or situational responses but rather reflect enduring psychological states or behavioral tendencies over the short term. One interpretation is that phubbing can become a habitual response (Frackowiak et al. 2022); alternatively, it may reflect a persistent coping mechanism for unmet emotional needs (Köse 2023), in which case the consistency of behavior reflects the persistence of underlying emotional states. Similarly, FoMO, as a chronic concern about missing social experiences, can create a sustained motivation to remain connected online, reinforcing this pattern over time (Milyavskaya et al. 2018). Loneliness, an emotional state characterized by a persistent sense of social isolation or lack of meaningful connections, also tends to show day‐to‐day consistency, reflecting an enduring experience of insufficient social connectedness (Lemay et al. 2024).

Second, loneliness predicted next‐day phubbing when controlling for the effects of the other factors assessed on the previous day, but daily phubbing did not predict loneliness of the next day, which partially supported our Hypothesis 2. When people experience loneliness, they often desire to feel included, validated, and entertained, and smartphones offer immediate access to social information, virtual communities, and personalized content, making them a readily available and highly appealing substitute for face‐to‐face interaction (Chura‐Quispe et al. 2025). However, this technological engagement often replaces genuine interpersonal interaction with superficial or fragmented communication, leading to insufficient perceived communication quality and relationship satisfaction (Chotpitayasunondh and Douglas 2018b). This suggests that individuals experiencing greater feelings of loneliness may be more likely to engage in phone‐focused behaviors as a coping mechanism or a means to seek social connection through digital channels (Fukuya et al. 2025).

Partially contrary to our hypothesis 2, the longitudinal effect of phubbing on subsequent loneliness was not supported. Specifically, phubbing did not significantly predict next‐day loneliness after controlling for prior loneliness and time trends. The observed asymmetry, loneliness predicting phubbing but not vice versa, suggests that these two constructs may relate to each other through distinct mechanisms with different temporal dynamics. According to the ETL (Cacioppo and Cacioppo 2018), loneliness functions as a motivational signal that prompts individuals to seek social connection, which in the digital age may manifest as increased phone use during interactions. This motivational pathway may operate on a relatively short timescale. However, the accumulation of such threats to belongingness, rather than single‐day experiences, may be necessary to elicit detectable changes in loneliness. Tsang et al. (2022) employed a 21‐day diary design and found that face‐to‐face, but not virtual, interaction time was indirectly associated with psychological well‐being via same‐day reductions in loneliness. However, their findings also revealed that virtual interaction did not predict same‐day loneliness at either the within‐ or between‐person level, raising the possibility that the effects of virtual interaction on loneliness may not manifest as day‐to‐day fluctuations. Drawing on the temporal need‐threat model (Williams 2009), we propose that threats to belongingness may require repeated or prolonged exposure to produce detectable changes in loneliness. Thus, the hypothesized effect may manifest over longer (e.g., weeks or months) or, within shorter momentary windows, neither of which is adequately captured by day‐to‐day fluctuations.

Third, we found that FoMO predicted the next day's phubbing and vice versa. Conceptually, the core of FoMO is fear of losing social connection, reflecting a motivational drive to maintain a sense of belonging (Duradoni et al. 2024). When an individual experiences higher‐than‐usual levels of FoMO at a given time point, this motivational state may activate a psychological need to reconnect with others (Elhai et al. 2025). This need may not dissipate promptly and may spill over into next‐day interpersonal behavior, such as phubbing. Rather than limiting smartphone use, fostering social media mindfulness practice (Chan et al. 2022) may contribute to promoting non‐reactive awareness of FoMO‐related cognitions and reduce the motivational tension, thereby helping to attenuate next‐day phubbing. The bidirectional association implies that phubbing may also heighten next‐day FoMO through attentional and information‐monitoring processes, which align with the previous study (Fareed and Zulfiqar 2026). When individuals engage in phubbing, they are likely to receive intermittent and salient social cues from smartphone‐based channels. Such cue exposure may promote a state of heightened vigilance toward social information, making individuals more likely to scan for signs of social availability or potential missed interactions (Chen et al. 2017), which reflects increased motivational pressure to stay connected.

Moreover, loneliness predicted FoMO on the next day. However, FoMO did not significantly predict loneliness on the next day, aligning with prior evidence that the cross‐lagged paths between FoMO and subsequent loneliness were not significant (Bonfanti et al. 2023). Loneliness signals a deficit in one's social belonging; to alleviate this distress, individuals may develop a heightened sensitivity to social cues and a preoccupation with others' activities (H. Wang and Xia 2025), manifesting as FoMO the following day. In contrast, FoMO may represent a more proximal cognitive‐motivational state, reflecting anticipatory concern about missing out and being unable to maintain connection, rather than a direct signal that one's social needs are fulfilled. While FoMO triggers social scanning and phubbing, these behaviors might serve as a temporary buffer that prevents a further increase in loneliness, so that FoMO may not be able to rapidly intensify or transform loneliness on the next day. It is also possible that FoMO may primarily increase near‐term social‐information monitoring and checking motivation (Q. Zheng et al. 2025), which does not necessarily translate into immediate changes in felt interpersonal connectedness; we failed to observe detectable changes in loneliness.

Finally, in partial alignment with Hypothesis 3, we found that FoMO played a mediating role in the link between loneliness and subsequent phubbing, emphasizing the critical role that FoMO plays in translating emotional experiences into specific social behaviors, which support the compensatory internet use theory (Kardefelt‐Winther 2014). Loneliness creates social needs that individuals attempt to satisfy via digital engagement, with FoMO acting as the cognitive motivation to maintain or re‐establish social connections. This FoMO perspective offers a valuable insight, suggesting that the anxiety stemming from FoMO on social opportunities or information online can be a key motivator for prioritizing digital engagement over face‐to‐face interactions (Servidio et al. 2024; Wegmann et al. 2017). That is, when lonely individuals experience heightened FoMO, they may become more willing to monitor or reaffirm their belongingness with the broader social network (Beyens et al. 2016). From the individual's perspective, phubbing serves as a delayed and socially costly attempt to alleviate the belongingness threat signaled by loneliness and FoMO, while potentially damaging the immediate relationship. In other words, for a given individual, on days following elevated FoMO triggered by above‐average loneliness, the likelihood of snubbing a present interaction partner increases, not because the person is generally prone to phubbing, but may be because the residual motivational tension from the previous day seeks an outlet in the next social encounter. Future research may benefit from examining the specific purposes of phubbing. For example, whether individuals engage in phubbing primarily to passively monitor others' online activities (e.g., checking updates, browsing posts) or to actively maintain remote conversations (e.g., replying to messages) is an important step toward understanding when and why phubbing carries interpersonal costs.

4.1. Limitations and Implications

Several limitations need to be acknowledged. The current study focused specifically on daily fluctuations in the interplay between phubbing and loneliness, as well as the mediating role of FoMO. As Kuiper and Ryan (2018) suggest, different time frames might yield different insights, which corroborates our findings. Future research could explore shorter intervals utilizing ecological momentary assessment, such as multiple times daily, to better understand how the bidirectional relationship operates. Furthermore, the generalizability of the results is limited, given that the sample primarily consisted of Chinese middle school students, a cultural context characterized by collectivist values that emphasize social harmony, interdependence, and strong belongingness needs. In such contexts, individuals may be particularly sensitive to social exclusion and experience heightened distress when their sense of belonging is threatened. As H. Wang and Xia (2025) suggested in their meta‐analysis, the correlation between loneliness and FoMO varied in different cultural contexts. Further studies should replicate these findings across populations in different cultural contexts to validate and extend the conclusions.

Moreover, the evaluation time was fixed for all participants, which may have led to induced reactivity, causing participants to alter their behavior or perceptions in anticipation of the assessment. Reactivity, the possibility that repeated measurement itself may influence participants' responses, remains a concern in daily diary designs. Future research should consider employing variable or random evaluation times to mitigate these potential biases in intensive longitudinal studies, and incorporating objective behavioral measures alongside self‐reports may help disentangle true intraindividual variation from measurement‐induced artifacts. Another limitation to consider is the reliance on self‐reported measures, which may be subject to social desirability effects. Future research could benefit from incorporating multiple data sources to provide a more comprehensive assessment. Additionally, we note that while the shortened scale demonstrated adequate validity and sensitivity in the present study, future research may benefit from using full‐length scales or conducting more comprehensive validation procedures to further enhance construct validity and improve measurement accuracy. Furthermore, the observed effect sizes were relatively small. Although this pattern is expected in intensive longitudinal research that models within‐person deviations (Funder and Ozer 2019), the practical significance of these effects remains to be further examined in future studies. Thus, readers should interpret the findings with appropriate caution regarding effect magnitude.

Notwithstanding these limitations, there are meaningful implications to consider. Using a longitudinal intensive diary method enables the collection of repeated, real‐time data on individuals' experiences and behaviors as they naturally unfold in daily life. This approach enables researchers to capture within‐person fluctuations and temporal sequences that are crucial for understanding the mechanisms linking phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness. By combining latent variable modeling with time‐series data, RDSEM provides more accurate conclusions about the underlying psychological constructs and their temporal relations, surpassing surface‐level associations (Fang et al. 2024). On the one hand, loneliness, FoMO, and phubbing each exhibit autoregressive tendencies, suggesting that once elevated, these states do not readily return to baseline without active regulation. In this context, identifying FoMO as a key mechanism linking loneliness to phubbing offers an empirically grounded target for addressing it. Rather than relying solely on behavioral strategies such as restricting physical access to smartphones, which may address the behavior without addressing its underlying drivers, strategies that target FoMO at the cognitive level (e.g., cognitive reappraisal and perspective‐taking to reframe it constructively, emotional coping through self‐soothing; Littman‐Ovadia and Russo‐Netzer 2024; Zhang et al. 2026) may hold greater promise in disrupting the chain from loneliness to phubbing.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, this study examined the stable daily effects of phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness, revealing that these experiences not only co‐occur but also influence each other over time. The significant autoregressive effects of phubbing, FoMO, and loneliness indicated that individuals' current states partially carry over to the next day. Moreover, our findings demonstrated a unidirectional temporal relationship in which elevated loneliness predicted increased next‐day phubbing and FoMO. Mediation analyses further revealed that FoMO served as a significant mediator in the pathway from loneliness to phubbing. The results suggest that on days when individuals feel lonelier, they may experience heightened FoMO, which in turn corresponds with greater phubbing behavior.

Author Contributions

Qi Dai: conceptualization, writing – original draft, methodology, data curation, writing – review and editing, formal analysis. Yanyu Xiao: conceptualization, methodology, data curation, writing – original draft, writing – review and editing, formal analysis. Yuzhuo Liang: data curation, writing – review and editing, visualization, validation. Baojuan Ye: methodology, supervision, project administration, writing – review and editing, funding acquisition.

Ethics Statement

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The Research Ethics Committee of Jiangxi Normal University approved this study.

Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all students included in the study and from their parents.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Supporting information

Supporting File

Dai, Q. , Xiao Y., Liang Y., and Ye B.. 2026. “Phubbing and Loneliness in the Digital Age: A Daily Diary Study on the Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out.” Journal of Adolescence 98: e70191. 10.1002/jad.70191.

Data Availability Statement

The main data of this article will be made available by the authors on reasonable request.