Acronyms are all the rage these days.
All the cool kids are using them, and you want an in with the popular kids, I suggest you start using them too. One of the most popular of 2015 is FOMO or the “Fear Of Missing Out.” In case you’ve spent the majority of this year living under a rock, FOMO is accepting the following:
- A lunch invitation with your co-workers rather than completing a task because you’re looking for office bonding and that might be found over paninis, right?
- An invitation to go out to the bar because maybe tonight will finally be the night you have a blast.
- That feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you see your high school friends posting photos from their wedding.
FOMO is a pervasive condition that it is incredibly easy to fall prey to in these heady days of Facebook, Instagram, the online news media and instantly searchable job postings. It’s that feeling that no matter what you’re doing, you must be missing out on something, whether that’s a better job, a cooler vacation, a more exciting party or a more adventurous breakfast.
According to Psych Central, It’s not “interruption,” that’s the driving force of FOMO, and it isn’t exactly connection either. Rather, it’s the potential for connection. We check our cell phones as we drive because we value what somebody of value may have said more than we value our own lives.
We accept an invitation to the bar because we value the potential for a good times with others more than we value a necessary night in with ourselves. FOMO doesn’t guarantee a better connection or a better time elsewhere. It only guarantees a different connection, but that promise of difference is the driving force that keeps us checking the phone as we drive.
Here are a few other ways you might be missing out due to FOMO:
- It makes us doubt ourselves: You were confident in your life until Facebook showed you a girl from high school marry a millionaire…on a yacht…in the Bahamas…after publishing her best-selling novel.
- You place too much value on appearances.
- It makes us less productive: How can we pay full attention to our current job when we are always keeping one eye out for the dream job that we know might be out there as long as we keep looking.
- Everything starts to look like an obstacle: When we’re worried about missing out on all the cool stuff, all the normal things in our lives start to seem like burdens.
- We start to believe the lies of social media: People don’t post their car accident or divorce papers on Facebook, leading us to believe everybody has a perfect life and we’re the only ones with issues.
- You never have enough time for just one thing.
- You need to be connected at all times: Possibly one of the most exhausting things is being plugged in all hours of the day.
- You become indecisive, affecting the quality of your plans: the better option might be right around the corner.
- You start to base your success on what others think.
- You end up spending too much money: Nearly 7 in 10 (69 percent) millennials experience FOMO, according to a recent study, which also stated that 55 percent of millennials say they’re spending more on events than ever before, “with no signs of slowing.”
[Featured Image Credit: Mashable]