Have you ever felt jealous of someone’s vacation pictures on Facebook or resented another “gym inspiration” post from someone on Instagram? Had to comfort your teenager after they see images of a party on Snapchat that they realize they weren’t invited? It’s an experience that many of us are familiar with. While it’s directly related to our self-esteem and self-worth, it also has a direct effect on our physical, mental, and emotional health.
The Cleveland Clinic defines Fear of Missing Out, or FOMO, as the feeling or perception that other people are having fun, experiencing new things, or living a better life than you. Studies also suggest that FOMO is a negative emotional state resulting from unmet social relatedness needs. Amy Sullivan, a clinical health psychologist, notes that “FOMO is probably the most hurtful in teenagers or younger adults, specifically because they are trying to figure out where they fit in life and what groups they fit into.”
A 2022 study suggests depressive and anxious symptoms worsen the longer we spend on social media; however, reducing social media consumption is just one tactic to reduce FOMO. You can also focus on being more fully present in and invested in the life you have today. Aarti Gupta, a clinical psychologist, notes that FOMO has a biological explanation: "Humans are social beings and rely on each other to survive, and being left out or not being in the know could have, once upon a time, been a matter of life or death." Therefore, if you feel a stress response to FOMO, taking a moment to assess what "danger" you're really in might get your out of that fight-or-flight response.
Resources
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/understanding-fomo
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305120965517
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6211134/
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/16/1099226028/how-to-overcome-fomo
