By Ashley Favata
FOMO was bad enough already, but seems to have only gotten worse with the pandemic. Why's that? It’s because now we also worry about what opportunities and experiences we missed while stuck in quarantine.
Now some of you might not know what FOMO is but, according to Elizabeth Scott MS from VeryWellMind, it “refers to the feeling or perception that others are having more fun, living better lives, or experiencing better things than you are,”or more simply put, it's the fear of missing out. And this is seen very often in regards to social media. “Social media has accelerated the FOMO phenomenon in several ways. It provides a situation in which you are comparing your regular life to the highlights of others' lives,” says Scott. That’s why it's important to remember that when scrolling through social media, you aren’t seeing their regular lives. Instead you are just looking at their lives through a filter so all you see is them living their best life.
While browsing through Instagram, I see people traveling, people hanging out with friends, and seeming to be genuinely having fun. It’s like they always live such a fantastic life, and I’m missing out. But then I realized that, yes, they could be having fun in that moment, however people only post the fun and exciting things they do. When they get back from their break, or go home to take their online classes, that’s the normal life we are all living.
Separating yourself from social media and recognizing the difference between that and recognizing the difference between glamor and reality is critical if you want to prevent being consumed by your FOMO. Make sure to focus more on the things you do have, rather than focusing on what you don’t have. Life is difficult during a pandemic, don’t make your life even more miserable by focusing on what you are missing out on. Life is too short!
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Sources
Scott, Elizabeth. “How to Deal With FOMO in Your Life The Origin of FOMO and How It
Affects Our Health.” Verywell Mind, 19 Feb. 2020,
www.verywellmind.com/how-to-cope-with-fomo-4174664.