Getting Over FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out
Echosmith’s “I Wish That I Could Be Like the Cool Kids” has been viewed over 132 million times on YouTube, perhaps tapping into something deeper than mere adolescent angst. We all want to be like the cool kids, don’t we?
FOMO
The “fear of missing out” refers to the feeling of “anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere”
- Smartphones and social media have made it easier than ever to track what others are doing
- There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep tabs on people we care about
- Companies have found ways to tap into this impulse to keep users coming back to their apps and websites habitually
Research on the Fear of Missing Out
In a 2018 study in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, limiting social media decreased loneliness and depression in a group of 143 University of Pennsylvania college students
- The study found that three-quarters of respondents experienced FOMO
- Not all studies reach such negative conclusions
- One study found shy and depressive individuals benefited from increased social media use and online relationships
- Likewise, a positive correlation between college students’ use of Facebook and increased life satisfaction, civic engagement, and political participation
How to Deal with FOMO
Relish feeling out of the loop
- Take a hiatus from social media
- Use software to avoid succumbing
- Delete social media apps
- Get a detox
- Enroll in a digital detox camp
- Remember that what we see of others online is not a representation of their lives