Snapchat streaks—How are these forms of gamified interactions associated with problematic smartphone use and fear of missing out among early adolescents?

Abstract

Snapchat offers a unique function, the Snapchat Streak, which is a gamified function within the app that motivates users to participate in daily interactions. This feature of the application can aid users in building a friendship with their peers. Given the requirement of interacting on the platform every 24 hours, our exploratory study aims to investigate how Snapchat streaks are associated with Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), problematic smartphone use and social media self-control. We conducted a study among a final sample of 2483 early adolescents (M_age = 13.46 years old; SD = 0.894) in the Dutch-speaking community of Belgium. The results indicate that the girls were more likely than boys to engage in a Snapchat streak and were more likely to engage in streaks for a longer period of time. Problematic smartphone use was associated with the engagement in Snapchat streaks. Lastly, FOMO, problematic smartphone use, and social media self-control were correlated with the number of people and the number of days adolescents maintained Snapchat streaks with, albeit it being a weak relationship. Implications of the findings for understanding adolescent Snapchat use are provided.