The Fear of Missing Out: Is It Really Worth It?

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Have you ever said "yes" to something just because you didn’t want to feel left out? Or scrolled through social media, feeling like everyone else is having a better time than you? That’s FOMO—Fear of Missing Out—and it’s exhausting.

Psychologists define FOMO as the anxiety that others are experiencing something rewarding while we are not (Przybylski et al., 2013). Social media makes this worse by constantly showing us curated highlights of other people’s lives. We don’t see the boring moments, just the vacations, parties, and successes. No wonder it can make us feel inadequate!

Research also links FOMO to lower life satisfaction and higher stress levels (Baker et al., 2016). Instead of enjoying the present, we’re mentally elsewhere - worrying about what we could be doing. And here’s the kicker: most of the time, what we’re "missing out on" isn’t even that great. Have you ever dragged yourself to an event just because you didn’t want to miss out, only to realize you would’ve been happier at home?

One study even found that people with high FOMO engage in more social media use, but feel less connected (Elhai et al., 2021). That’s ironic, isn’t it? The very thing we use to feel included can make us feel lonelier.

So what’s the alternative? Instead of chasing every experience out of fear, we can practice JOMO - the Joy of Missing Out. Choosing what truly matters, being present, and realizing that we’re not really missing much. Because, let’s be honest, we don’t need to be everywhere, do everything, or compare our lives to someone else’s highlight reel.


References:

Przybylski, A. K., Murayama, K., DeHaan, C. R., & Gladwell, V. (2013). Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1841-1848.

Baker, Z. G., Krieger, H., & LeRoy, A. S. (2016). Fear of missing out: Relationships with depression, mindfulness, and physical symptoms. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 2(3), 275.

Elhai, J. D., Yang, H., Montag, C., & Levine, J. C. (2021). Fear of missing out (FoMO): Sociodemographic, individual differences, and internet-related correlates and consequences. Current Opinion in Psychology, 39,49-55.



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