The Effect of Fear of Death in The Elderly Creating FoMO on The Perception of Health News Published on Social Media

Abstract

Death anxiety is an anxiety that occurs throughout people's lives and precedes other fears, and is formed by the thought that the person will no longer exist and disappear. This fear can be seen in the minds of people in a severe and painful way, as well as in an emotional and soft way. The main thing here is the anxiety of the person's disappearance or the unknown after death. FoMO, on the other hand, is the concern of people not knowing or missing news, developments and information in daily life. FoMO is increasing with technological developments and advances in communication technology. Within the scope of this study, it is aimed to bring a different dimension to the field by focusing on the increase in death anxiety with old age in the follow-up of health news and the effect of this situation on the formation of FoMO. In this sense, the aim of the research is to examine whether the fear of death of the elderly leads to FoMO in monitoring and perceiving health news. The research was carried out by applying a questionnaire to people over the age of 65 in Istanbul. The results obtained from the analysis revealed that the fear of death caused behavioral changes in the follow-up of health news and their belief in health news, and there were positive significant relationships between fear of death and FoMO behaviors.