The idea for this study emerged from a simple but important observation. Over the last decade, psychological research has devoted enormous attention to the phenomenon of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO). Hundreds of studies have demonstrated that FoMO is associated with anxiety, stress, problematic smartphone use, social media addiction, sleep disturbances, reduced well-being, and a range of other psychological difficulties. As researchers increasingly explored the negative consequences of constant digital connectivity, a new concept gradually emerged in public discourse and academic literature: Joy of Missing Out (JOMO).

JOMO refers to the positive experience of intentionally disconnecting from digital activities and social media without feeling anxious about what others are doing. Individuals who experience JOMO tend to feel content, relaxed, and emotionally fulfilled when they choose not to participate in every online interaction or social event. In many ways, JOMO represents a healthier and more balanced relationship with technology. As digital well-being became an increasingly important topic worldwide, JOMO appeared to offer a promising psychological framework for understanding adaptive digital behavior.

However, despite growing interest in JOMO, one critical problem became immediately apparent during my review of the literature: there was no psychometrically robust instrument available to measure JOMO, particularly within non-Western cultural contexts. Most previous studies treated JOMO as a secondary construct, often measured through a small number of items, adapted scales, or instruments that had undergone only limited psychometric testing. While these studies contributed valuable insights, they left an important methodological gap. Researchers were attempting to study JOMO without having a strong, validated, and theoretically grounded measurement tool.

As a psychologist, I have long believed that scientific progress depends heavily on the quality of measurement. Before we can understand a psychological construct, test theoretical models, evaluate interventions, or compare findings across populations, we must first ensure that the construct is measured accurately. Without reliable and valid measurement, conclusions become uncertain and theoretical development remains limited.

This realization became the primary motivation behind the present study. Rather than immediately examining predictors or outcomes of JOMO, I decided to focus on a more fundamental question: How can we develop a reliable, valid, and culturally relevant measure of JOMO?

Another factor that motivated this research was the cultural context of Indonesia. Most existing discussions of JOMO originate from Western societies, where individual autonomy and personal independence are highly valued. Indonesia, however, represents a more collectivistic culture in which social connectedness, interpersonal obligations, and group harmony play central roles in everyday life. Digital communication is deeply embedded in social relationships, and social media often serves as an important tool for maintaining family and community ties.

This cultural difference raised an intriguing question. Does JOMO have the same psychological meaning in Indonesia as it does in Western societies? Or might Indonesian students experience digital disengagement differently?

To answer this question, I intentionally chose not to begin with existing Western instruments. Instead, I adopted an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. The first phase involved qualitative exploration through in-depth interviews with university students who demonstrated low levels of smartphone dependence and digital anxiety. I wanted the dimensions of JOMO to emerge directly from participants’ lived experiences rather than imposing pre-existing theoretical assumptions.

The qualitative findings were fascinating. Students consistently described three interconnected experiences. First, they spoke about consciously limiting digital engagement in order to remain present and focused in their daily lives. This dimension became Mindful Disconnection. Second, they described feelings of relief, freedom, and happiness when they chose not to participate in every online trend or discussion. This became Joyful Disconnection. Third, they discussed the peace and comfort of being alone without constant digital stimulation, which became Digital Solitude.

These findings suggested that JOMO is not simply the opposite of FoMO. Rather, it is a multidimensional psychological process involving intentional self-regulation, emotional well-being, and reflective disengagement from digital environments.

Based on these qualitative findings, I developed an initial pool of 23 items. Following expert review, linguistic evaluation, pilot testing, and psychometric refinement, the questionnaire was reduced to 20 items for large-scale validation. Importantly, I wanted the scale development process to meet contemporary psychometric standards. Therefore, multiple validation procedures were employed, including content validation, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability testing, discriminant validity assessment, and Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis.

One of the most important contributions of this study is the use of Item Response Theory. Many psychological scale development studies rely exclusively on classical test theory approaches such as Cronbach’s alpha and factor analysis. While these methods are useful, they do not provide detailed information regarding how individual items function across different levels of the latent trait. By incorporating IRT, specifically the Partial Credit Model, I was able to evaluate item difficulty, item fit, person reliability, and measurement precision at a much deeper level.

The results were encouraging. The final eight-item JOMO scale demonstrated strong reliability, satisfactory factor structure, acceptable item fit statistics, and evidence of discriminant validity. The scale was negatively associated with loneliness, emotion dysregulation, and doomscrolling, supporting theoretical expectations that JOMO represents a positive and adaptive form of digital engagement.

Beyond the psychometric findings, this study also contributes theoretically. Much of the previous literature implicitly treated JOMO as merely the absence of FoMO. The findings of this research suggest otherwise. JOMO appears to be an independent psychological construct characterized by autonomy, intentionality, emotional regulation, and positive disengagement from digital demands. In other words, not having FoMO does not necessarily mean that a person experiences JOMO. JOMO reflects an active psychological orientation rather than simply a lack of anxiety.

The study further highlights the importance of cultural context in understanding digital well-being. Interestingly, the Digital Solitude dimension demonstrated weaker psychometric properties than the other dimensions. This finding may reflect the collectivistic nature of Indonesian society, where complete disengagement from social interaction is not always viewed positively. Thus, JOMO in Indonesia may be experienced more as balanced digital participation rather than total withdrawal from online relationships.

Looking forward, I hope this scale will serve as a foundation for future research in digital psychology, cyberpsychology, and digital well-being. Researchers can now examine how JOMO relates to mental health, smartphone addiction, social media use, self-control, emotion regulation, mindfulness, academic functioning, and life satisfaction. The scale may also support the development of interventions aimed at helping young people cultivate healthier relationships with technology.

Ultimately, this study was driven by a simple but important goal: to provide the field with a scientifically rigorous tool for measuring a construct that is becoming increasingly relevant in modern digital life. In a world characterized by constant connectivity, endless notifications, and pressure to remain perpetually online, understanding the psychology of intentional disconnection may be just as important as understanding the psychology of connection itself. The development of the JOMO Scale represents one step toward that understanding.