The Psychology Behind The FOMO

While FOMO can rear its head in various aspects of our lives, social media undoubtedly plays a starring role in amplifying this phenomenon. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter provide a constant stream of curated content showcasing the best hybrid integration webmethods io integration moments of people’s lives. It’s important to remember that these highlight reels rarely reflect the full picture of someone’s reality.

For example, being a digital nomad sounds like a dream career path. You get to travel around the world, work from a laptop and spend your days at the beach. Social media is another cornerstone for FOMO, and for many, that can be the primary source that triggers the fear of missing out.

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In an experiment testing multiple interventions, we asked 788 study participants to look through their social media feeds until they encountered a post of a missed social event. We asked about 200 of these participants to immediately rate how much FOMO they were feeling. Social networking can make it easy to view life as a glass half empty instead of half full.

And subsequently have further worsening in areas of self-evaluation, self-monitoring, and the interpretation of affect in social situations50,51. Further research is needed in this area to explore variables likely to be affected with emergence of FoMO. FOMO often stems from comparing yourself to others or believing you’re not measuring up. A therapist trained in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help you identify and challenge these unhelpful thoughts, replacing them with more balanced and affirming perspectives. Align your activities and decisions with what truly matters to you.

If you feel you are suffering from feelings of missing out, it can be helpful to reach out to a friend or spend some time reflecting on the things you are grateful for in your life. Activities like these can help us put things in perspective as we gather a greater sense of belonging and release the anxiety of “missing out” on anything. Gratitude can be a powerful way to alleviate feelings of depression and anxiety. Because you feel better about the good things in your life, you are also less tempted to go down the rabbit hole of social networking and FOMO. If doing a complete digital detox isn’t possible, consider limiting your use of certain social the best binary translator to convert binary code to text media apps that make you feel as if you are missing out. Temporarily remove those apps, set daily limits on how much you will use them, or cull your feel to remove people who make you feel bad about yourself or your life.

The phenomenon is becoming increasingly common—in part thanks to social media—and can cause a lot of stress in your life. It can affect just about anyone, but some people are at greater risk. The fear of missing out, or FOMO, refers to the feeling or perception that others are having more fun, living better lives, or experiencing better things than you are. It involves a deep sense of envy—and it can take a serious toll on your self-esteem. Another group of about 200 participants also scrolled through their social media feeds until they encountered a post of a missed social event.

• This can lead to or worsen depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.
• One key strategy to get rid of FOMO is JOMO – the joy of missing out; try practicing mindful meditation and remembering that you have a choice.
• For example, if you are constantly seeing posts of engagements, weddings, and baby announcements, you may feel like your relationship is falling behind.

But before indicating how much FOMO they were feeling, we asked them to think back to a prior experience socializing and bonding with their friends. Popular discussions about the negative consequences of FOMO tend to focus on the FOMO people 12 best bitcoin wallets in the uk 2021 feel from compulsively scrolling on social media and seeing what they missed out on. Consequently, much of the suggested advice on how to mitigate FOMO centers on turning off phones or taking a vacation from social media.

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Sometimes, FOMO leads you to increase your social media use because you think you’ll relieve your FOMO by staying “connected” to people and activities online. But that may only suck you into a vicious cycle of feeding your depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. With FOMO, your feelings usually come from seeing other people having fun on social media. With MOMO, none of your friends are posting and this triggers fear, anxiety, or paranoia that everyone is secretly having a good time without you, while you are kept in the dark.

Emphasize quality time

Another potential cause for FOMO could be that we have too many options. While too many options may feel like a positive thing, there comes the point where there are too many things to choose from, and this can become overwhelming. FOMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing (Gupta & Sharma, 2021).

FOMO AND PHYSICAL WELLBEING

• Films like the 2020 docudrama The Social Dilemma have reinvigorated the controversy over the harmful impact of social media.
• It’s a base-level fear because it leads us to think if we miss out on this, we’re going to be excluded from future events with those individuals.
• There’s also a risk that you’ll put your online relationships ahead of your in-person ones, which can make you feel lonely on top of everything else.
• Fear of missing out on social interactions can foster feelings of social inferiority and loneliness, which may be short-lived or chronic.
• You can manage FOMO by practicing mindfulness, limiting social media use, reframing your thoughts about comparison, and focusing on what aligns with your personal values.

As social media grew, so did the popularity of the FOMO term, though research on causes is still emerging. This may even involve ending friendships with people who do not bring joy into your life. For example, if you have a toxic friend who is always boasting about how great their life is compared to yours, you could consider letting this friendship end. Writing about things that bring you joy in a journal, for instance, can shift from focusing on public approval to private appreciation.

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ROMO gives you a feeling of peace rather than panic when saying “no” to any plans. It helps to save time and energy from endless commitments, and people can choose solitude, reflection, or authenticity over social pressure. The casual statement from Murphy may have just given traction to a growing cultural shift. Real-world examples demonstrate the effectiveness of FOMO in driving sales and increasing conversions. By addressing FOMO in your audience and using tools and techniques to measure its impact, brands can build stronger relationships with their customers and foster long-term loyalty. These examples highlight how employing FOMO tactics such as urgency and pricing restructuring can significantly boost sales and marketing effectiveness.

Attribution theory, for instance, explains how people attribute their feelings of missing out to external factors, such as others having more exciting lives. The transtheoretical model, on the other hand, offers a framework for understanding how individuals can be supported in managing their FOMO by recognizing the stages of change they go through. FOMO includes two processes; firstly, the perception of missing out is followed up by a compulsive behavior to maintain these social connections. If you’re worried that you’re being left out, go and attend more events with people.

As other studies have suggested, FOMO was heavily linked to higher engagement in social media. FOMO appears to be linked to both feeling a need to engage in social media and increasing that engagement. FOMO and social media habits may contribute to a negative, self-perpetuating cycle.