Fear of Missing out (FoMo) is the common phenomena these days. In the era of smartphones and social media, the people nowadays have many platforms to make friends, showcase their talent and share their experiences. Instagram and Facebook has become a world in itself where everyone has a house and they are free to decorate it as they wish. The people too decorate it with colorful experiences and nostalgic memories.
However, in order to project a bright and positive side, the damp and dark side is hidden and locked in a cabinet that the user doesn’t want to open up to others.
While this fake image acts as a confidence booster to one person, it can act as a cause of anxiety and sadness to the others.
FoMo or the “ the fear of missing out” is what has stemmed out of the dissatisfaction that people feel in their lives when they scroll through the photos of their friends having what seems to be “the best time of their life”. It doesn’t matter what was the story behind those pictures or the struggle they had to reach their destination.
You will think that it is something that hasn’t happened to you, but think of the last time you saw a picture of favorite star and started comparing yourself to him or the time when you saw a photo of your friend hiking on the mountains and thought what boring life you have. It can also be the disappointment that we, the university fresher, felt in the corona pandemic because we had always been told of the fun and freedom that every college student enjoys, whereas we were locked in our homes and taking online classes. Seriously, I was bored to the core of my bones!
5 reasons that lead to Fear of Missing out (FoMo)?
- Unhappiness: When a person is unhappy in his life, he seeks means to escape from his reality. Social media turns out to be the best and the easiest access way to run away from the reality. However, when he sees others having fun, this increases their unhappiness instead of decreasing it.
- Low self esteem: Self esteem is the worth or the value that a person thinks that he has. A person with high self esteem is content and views himself in a positive light. On the other hand, a person with low self esteem is anxious and often underestimates himself. Instead of working and improving oneself, he compares himself to others and tries to copy them without much success.
- Stress: An individual who is excessively stressed is jittery and full of anxiety. He is like a drowning person who would take hold of anything that might help him. Hence, he is easily manipulated. Here, the social media acts as a manipulator and instead of coming out of the water it drags him deeper.
- Dissatisfaction in life style: The social media acts as a platform where people portrait themselves as excessively lively and happy, therefore creating a false image. But the others who look at the fake and filtered photos often overestimate the level of happiness in others. They feel as if something important is missing from their lives. This leads to dissatisfaction and hence people turn towards luxuries over necessities.
- Jealousy: The feeling that we experience when others have something that we don’t can be described as jealousy. Example: When we were children and our friend would show us a new pencil box that was recently bought, you would run to your house and demand to have one too. This demand was a result of the jealousy that you felt.
Fear of missing out can have a variety of causes but they all have a common factor: dissatisfaction. The discontentment of the current circumstances is a major cause of it.
4 ways to. prevent Fear of Missing out (FoMo)
- Understanding the truth behind the scenes: We have understand that what is being presented is not the reality, there are factors which you are not aware of. Example: After posting a photo of my family on a one day trip to Jaipur, there were many comments like, “ nice pics”, “ beautiful”, and “ wow”. But does anyone know that know that me and my mom got sick because of the heatstroke or the dizziness that we felt when climbing steps to the fort? No. They took the photos as the evidence of us having a great time.
- Work on your self: Just polishing the shell that you have created around yourself consumes much of your time and money and it can be very stressful. Instead of greasing your false image, you should work on your real self that is hiding behind this shell. Exercise regularly, eat healthy, engage in the hobbies that you enjoy and learn something new.
- Limit your time on social media: An estimate tells that a person spends an average of 10-12 hours of the day in front of the screen. The beast way to avoid Fomo is to avoid social media. There should be a room in your where there is a ban on the gadgets like Mobile Phone, laptop, computer, and so on. It should be a place where you can enjoy the company of your family, having fun by playing games that are not digital like card games, board games and many more. This will not only limit your time on social media but also produce positive vibes.
- Not digitally but personally: Instead of spending a lot of time with your friends of Instagram or Facebook, try to spend time with your friends in a social setting. Try arranging for a get- together or an outing with your friends. If you want to wish someone on a special occasion, go there personally Instead of posting it on your account, it would look heart- felt and sincere. The other person would also appreciate your sincerity.
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written by
Muskan Tanwar– UIBS Intern