Have you ever spent your days scrolling through social media, seeing your friends’ posts and wondering what you are missing, thinking that they are living better lives than you? Have you struggled with choosing which event to decline on the same night? Or stared at your phone waiting for someone to text? Ever felt guilty about canceling plans due to something important? If so, you may have experienced a phenomenon called “Fear of Missing Out” a.k.a. FOMO. This phenomenon has been experienced by each individual at least once in their lifetime and has constantly been perpetuated as the popularity of social media has continued to grow. Four in ten young people reported FOMO sometimes or often.
FOMO includes both the perception of missing out, which triggers anxiety, as well as compulsive behaviours, such as constantly checking and refreshing sites, to maintain social connections. FOMO can be triggered by missing out on social events, such as not getting invited to a party or an after-work outing, or when you are not participating in the latest trends on social media. FOMO can entail routinely checking your text messages, instantly picking up your phone when you get a notification or signing up for an activity despite the possibility of burnout from a full schedule.
FOMO can affect peoples’ overall health and wellness. When people become overloaded with social events and activities to avoid FOMO, it can impact their sleep and eating habits, leading to fatigue, headaches, lack of motivation, performance issues at work or school, and burnout. FOMO can also lead to feelings of loneliness, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and risky or harmful behavior. People who suffer from this anxiety tend to overwork themselves and overbook their schedules to attend all events to which they are invited, to make sure that they are not missing out on anything. When they are not able to attend every social gathering, they often find themselves overthinking what could have been if they had attended that event.
The acronym’s origin is often attributed to Patrick McGinnis, who coined it in a 2004 article for the Harvard Business School magazine, The Harbus. However, the phenomenon has appeared in literature before and was studied in 1996 by marketing strategist Dr. Dan Herman, who believes the concept has evolved to become more widespread through mobile phone usage, texting, and social media.
In conclusion, FOMO is a wide-spread phenomenon which triggers anxiety in people who have missed out on attending social gatherings and is amplified by social media.
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