It feels late in the evening, where you’re winding up your work and you end up scrolling on your social media, feeling a little restless, anxious and bored.
You see a friend upload a gorgeous picture on a rooftop restaurant, enjoying their early evening meal, while the other one has recorded a beautiful sunset by the beach. All this while, you’re scrolling and feeling restless and more restless..
And as time passes by, you feel a mixture of emotions. From feeling left-out to self-loathing and what not! A very hard feeling to describe but this is what FOMO is! The Fear of Missing Out!
With the rise of social media, the users have portrayed the perfect, beautiful details of their life online, which in turn makes it easier for others to feel upset or envy them! In other words, FOMO is the anxiety that people feel when they want to feel more belonged or a part of a particular social life/group and a part of the events that people are happily boasting about!
Reasons why we experience FOMO?
According to a recent 5 year research, the scholarly article “Fear of Missing Out : prevalence, dynamics and consequences of experiencing FOMO” highlighted how and why the university students experience these social media triggers and after researching on over 500 candidates, it was concluded that FOMO is positively associated with the way an individual understands and experiences the world and how or what they feel about being excluded from a particular event.
Though understanding FOMO is a difficult practice, it is drastically having negative effects on people via social media platforms.
Ways to overcome FOMO?
- Try taking a break from a particular social media platform
Cutting down on all platforms can sound like a drastic change and hence, what might be advisable is to either deactivate or take a tiny break from the platform that makes you feel more left out!
- Time your social media usage
For those who are social media marketers or usually use platforms as their main source of work, instead of deactivating the account, you can time social media usage. This is a great way of enjoying your scroll time but also not overdoing it to a point that it affects you.
- Try being more mindful of important relationships
We usually end up in circles of self-pity and slowly questioning our bonds with people while in reality, it’s just our mind playing tricks! Being mindful in these matters can really help.
- Cultivate an attitude of Gratitude
Pause for a moment and look around. What things are there to admire? What things you might be taking for granted? Do you genuinely miss someone or is just the scrolling that makes you feel otherwise? Practicing Gratitude is a great way of changing your perspective and being noticing things that were already there in the first place!
- Know that you don’t have to have it all
Needs are limited but desires are definitely endless! Prioritising certain goals can help us let go of those that aren’t so important, which also helps us give our best to things that matter the most to us.
- Remember, one thing at a time: Multi-tasking in these times seems like the best way of working or managing things, but the brain can only respond to one action/request at a time! So take it as it comes and take it one by one.
At the end of it all, remember to enjoy the process! Enjoy the moments of pleasure, without feeling guilty or being present somewhere else, unconsciously. It’s not just you but everyone around you enjoys the perks of losing out on FOMO!
