People flock to grand opening events for fear of missing out, experts say

PHOENIX - What do Black Friday, White Castle, Popeyes and the new iPhone all have in common? Major hype and extremely long lines.

"Going back to the White Castle thing, I think there's a herd mentality sometimes where people just follow the crowd out of curiosity a lot of times," said Gary Grove, a psychiatrist. 

Nearly two weeks ago, a steady stream of customers showed up to Arizona's first White Castle. About 50,000 sliders were sold and they had to close their doors the following morning. The lines were so long at one point people had to wait five hours to get your food at the drive-thru.

Psychiatrist Gary Grove says a big reason for the long line at White Castle is nostalgia. 

"It's new here," said Grove. "I think a lot of people were transplanted here. It reminds them of their previous lives, so they say 'oh boy, let's go to White Castle.'"

Back in August, Popeyes launched their chicken sandwich, which sold out in two weeks. The popular sandwiches making their long-awaited return on Sunday. Grove says a lot of the hype can be credited to social media. 

"I don't think it's a new phenomenon, it's just been magnified by social media," said Grove. 

He says social media can increase 'FOMO' or fear of missing out. At its core, Grove says these long line events are about people being a part of something. 

"A lot of people tend to follow things that seem to be attractive to a lot of other people, they want to be part of the group, they want to be accepted," explained Grove. 

A recent survey shows people spend approximately six months of their lives waiting in line for things: 32 minutes whenever you visit a doctor, 28 minutes in security line when you travel, 13 hours annually waiting on hold for customer service, 38 hours each year waiting in traffic and on average 20 minutes a day waiting for the bus or train.