Being aware of the happenings in a community has always been of interest to humans, but the current state of news availability is unprecedented. This convenience is driving behavioral changes that manifest in online news addiction. In this research, we seek to understand antecedents to online news addiction as a need to be socially connected. We posit that an individual’s social identity creates envy, fear of missing out, and anxiety. These factors lead to frequent news checking to the point of addiction. Through this research we expect to provide guidance on the role of social identity in technology addictions, as well as new offerings that can lead to online news addiction. In the current environment of misinformation, this research will be informative for reducing online news addiction
