Turning FOMO into JOMO – Amana F
Let me set the scene. You’ve just finished Saturday school (which shouldn’t exist, but that conversation’s for another time), and you’re driving home. Sat there in the car with your parents talking at you for so long that it starts sounding like a different language. Slouched in the car seat, sweaty, hungry and exhausted. Occasionally you’ll beg to drive past Mcdonalds, but you know it’s not happening because “there’s food at home”.
You get home after what feels like hours, shower, get into comfy clothes, rummage around for the “food at home” that was promised, end up making pasta as usual, and then wrap yourself nice and warm in your bed sheets. Finally, time to relax. Just before you start your movie marathon – straight after a few hours of century tech of course – you decide to check your socials to see who’s doing what. Scrolling through people’s stories, your face begins to drop. Panicked breathing, red in the face, tears building up. The realization kicks in. They’ve all gone to that party…. without you!!!!!
FOMO. Fear of missing out. We’ve all experienced this at least once in our lives. Why? FOMO is initially considered as a type of problematic attachment to social media. Think about it. If you don’t know about something, then that something shouldn’t affect you. In the words of Tame Impala: “The Less I know the Better”. FOMO causes negative effects on one’s mental well-being. The idea that an exciting experience or important opportunity is being taken away from you is inevitably going to cause some form of upset, whether this be feeling low for a few minutes then going about your day, or lack of sleep and emotional tension. Either way, I’m sure FOMO isn’t something to enjoy. This is why I’m going to introduce you to JOMO. Joy of missing out.
As an optimist, I don’t feel FOMO at all. As a pathological liar, that was a lie. I still feel slightly disappointed, but I’ve managed to convince myself that whatever I’m missing out on isn’t even worth it, because realistically, it isn’t. In the few hours that you might be feeling isolated, since you’re missing out, you could instead be bettering yourself. Make your time worthwhile. Read a book, go on a run, watch a movie, bake a cake. Don’t spend your time in bed where you overthink things, make yourself busy so there’s no room to think about what you’re missing out on.
Take a break from social media. I know, I know, easier said than done, but focus on something else. Deleting TikTok for a few months didn’t only make me feel less FOMO, but it also made me more productive. Although TikTok is now one of the most popular apps used by all ages, it’s damaging for mental health and can have negative effects on someone’s attention span. No, you haven’t got undiagnosed ADHD, it’s just your brain has adapted to only being able to focus for 15-seconds at a time.
Be happy. ‘But I can’t be happy if I’m not out at a party’, you might be thinking, but being happy is a mindset. Your mind can do powerful things. Go do something that will increase your dopamine levels: retail therapy, going to the gym, baking cookies. Convince yourself that you’re happy alone. I know that’s hard if you’re extroverted like me, but it’s only one event you’re missing. Make the most if that time you have to spend.
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