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Social Pressure

What is Vanishing Stories?

Stories and statuses that self-destruct after 24 hours turn missing a day into missing out forever. The expiry timer is not a privacy feature, it is a standing daily appointment with your anxiety.

Where it comes from

Snapchat Stories (2013)

How it hooks you

Exploits FOMO: scarcity of time, not of content, creates the compulsion to check in every single day.

What the research shows

Przybylski's studies found people highest in fear of missing out were the heaviest social media users, reaching for feeds right after waking and during meals and lectures.

Source: Przybylski et al., 'Motivational, emotional and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out', Computers in Human Behavior (2013)

How to resist it

Accept that you will miss stories, they are designed to be missable. Anything that truly matters will reach you another way.

Where you’ll run into it

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