Fear of Missing Out

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Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, is a syndrome that relates to the fear of missing an interesting event or an opportunity, it is a state of anxiety created by a compulsive worry that a person may miss out on an opportunity for social interaction or a new experience. 

One of the first articles in psychology to address this topic, defined FOMO as a “a widespread fear that others may have more useful experiences that one does not have” and described its structure as including two main components:

• Awareness that others are having positive experiences and you are not;
• Persistent desire to stay connected in social networks.

The first component is expressed in various aspects of anxiety: worry, nervousness, and excessive repetition of thoughts. The second defines a behavioral strategy aimed at alleviating this anxiety, similar to how obsessive actions are aimed at alleviating anxiety in obsessive-compulsive disorder, when a person constantly returns to the same thought or idea. 

It is worth noting that the emergence of FOMO, according to the founder of this concept P.J. McGinnis, is provoked not only by the content of the virtual world; this phenomenon can also be seen in real life: “It is enough to spend your time and energy on dreaming of what you want to have, instead of appreciating what you already have, and taking it for granted”.

However, social networks play a significant role in FOMO, increasing the likelihood of receiving information about alternative opportunities, and the gains of others. Therefore, the method of reminders of missed opportunities probably does not matter, but social media can make such reminders more frequent, and more emotionally powerful, leading to a stronger experience of FoMO.

Generally, FOMO can influence people on different levels. First of all, it usually causes stress and anxiety. Nowadays, we live in the age of social networks, while in the past we did not have this opportunity to see what such a huge number of people were doing. It should also be taken into account that people tend to post on social networks only what they consider to be some cool experience, something they want to share, or just to boast about. We only look into a small hole that people allow us to see, thus creating an illusion for us that all people have a much better life, much better opportunities, better experiences, and better control over their own lives, in general everything is better only because we see a good segment from what is actually going on in their lives. We question why we have so many problems, doubts, worries, anxieties, etc, and why no one else does, that we seem to be so alone, but this is, of course, an illusion. Not only does this lead to stress and anxiety, but it can also lead to depression if a person constantly occupies his head with these thoughts: that he is not enough, does not participate in every given opportunity, is not present everywhere, etc. This is a very strong pressure on an individual’s emotional state. 

It can also be a problem when people associate their achievements, events in which they participated, their actions, and their experiences with their own values. That is “I am valuable when I have achieved a lot, when I have been to many places, when I have a lot of photos on Instagram from the places I visited”. Self-esteem is based on whether a person missed out on something, if he missed – self-esteem drops, as soon as he ticks a wanted box then maybe for a second he will feel the illusion of one’s own value. A healthier option would be to value oneself despite everything, simply for who one is, and accept oneself with the experience that one already had, no matter how much or little of it one has. 

Burnout is another effect that can arise from FOMO. Because someone appears to be doing a lot, which boosts his or her self-esteem, gives him or her something to include on one’s resume, and generally makes them seem like an interesting person, but the resource is used up a lot because this motivation is based on the fear that eventually one’s strength will run out. Because of this, a person has a limited amount of resources, which is precisely why these people experience burnout from constant physical and emotional exhaustion. 

This can also lead to restlessness and dissatisfaction with one’s own life. These are people who are always in a rush, who feel the need to see things, accomplish goals, and be extremely productive. However, these people don’t do this out of a sense of natural desire or because they are incapable of doing otherwise; rather, they do it out of a fear that they will miss something, that they aren’t yet deserving of love and respect, or that they aren’t well-known enough in society. It is coming from this fear that fuels the desire to be constantly in a rush and achieve things, and therefore show it on social media. A person creates a list with certain tasks and puts ticks whenever the task is done, and satisfaction with oneself depends on that. For example: I tried, I learned that, I have been there, I have done that, etc. The downside of such a lifestyle is that a person will never be satisfied, they will always feel like what they are doing is not enough, because the world is endless and multifaceted and it is very difficult to tick all the arising boxes. These are unrealistic desires and an unrealistic strict demand from oneself, because it is important for people to rest, as well as being productive, and not be productive from time to time.  

A study by A. Przybylski surveyed a large international sample of adults about their experience of FOMO, resulting in the development of a FOMO scale that assessed this construct as a fairly general and stable variable of individual differences. It has been proven that the FOMO syndrome is associated with a low level of satisfaction of psychological needs, dissatisfaction with life, and a lowered general mood. Subsequent studies have found that FOMO is characterized by a tendency toward depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms. In addition, it was noted that people with FOMO use social networks and mobile phones more actively, since they need to be constantly in touch and receive approval from others. 

In philosophy, FOMO is considered from different perspectives. On the one hand, it is a problem of society since we constantly see examples of people who we think live better, and achieve more than us. This speaks of people’s focus on success and achievement, which is not always healthy, and thus they experience consequences discussed earlier. On the other hand, FOMO is a manifestation of human nature, as people always want to feel as s part of some social group, and it is because of this that people have a desire to attend as many events as possible, to be the same as one’s friends, as someone else, always finding a role model for oneself that a person will look up to in order to be better, to be worthy of this society, to be equal in it. That is considered to be a natural instinct.

To sum it up, FOMO is a fear of missing out on something important, falling behind, and being insufficiently acknowledged about something. This fear occurs when people compare themselves with others, when it feels like one does not take everything from life and misses many opportunities and events. We need to remember that we only look into a small hole that people allow us to see, thus creating an illusion that others have a much better life and opportunities, better experiences, better control over their own lives, that in general everything is better for others simply because we only see a good segment from what is actually going on in their lives.

Di Iryna Falkivska 

iryna.falkivska01@icatt.it

Bibliography

Buglass SL, Binder JF, Betts LR, Underwood JD. Motivators of online vulnerability: The impact of social network site use and FOMO.

Przybylski, Andrew K.; Murayama, Kou; DeHaan, Cody R.; Gladwell, Valerie (July 2013). “Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out”.

«Report: 56% of Social Media Users Suffer From FOMO» https://mashable.com/archive/fear-of-missing-out

Coskun S, Karayagiz Muslu G. Investigation of problematic mobile phones use and fear of missing out (FoMO) level in adolescents.