<![CDATA[The “always-on” culture of digital natives has accelerated the rise of digital fatigue. However, the underlying mechanisms transforming social anxiety into physical and mental exhaustion remain underexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the mediating role of nomophobia, namely the fear of being without a mobile phone, in the relationship between Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and digital fatigue. A large-scale survey (N = 1,324) was carried out on Indonesian digital natives using mediation analysis. The results showed that nomophobia serves as a critical psychological bridge, accounting for a significant indirect effect in the FoMO fatigue pipeline. The integration of Social Cognitive Theory and Cognitive Load Theory demonstrated that the compulsive drive for social connectedness systematically depletes cognitive and emotional resources. Therefore, digital well-being interventions must move beyond simple “screen time” limits to address the underlying nomophobic anxiety that drives exhaustion. This study provides a theoretical framework for developing targeted mindfulness based interventions to mitigate the psychological consequences of hyper-connectivity]]>
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