FOMO

http://www.ihglobe.com/culture/life-with-fomo/ 

     I have heard the concept before, but last night I really heard the acronym FOMO for the first time. It is a slang acronym that stands for “Fear of Missing Out.” According to dictionary.com it means:

a feeling of anxiety or insecurity over the possibility of missing out on something, as an event or an opportunity.

     It is indeed a condition, a side-effect, of our obsession with social media. It happens when one goes online, primarily to Facebook or Instagram. One encounters posts and photos of people having fun, attending some very cool looking event, or travelling to some exotic location. It appears that everyone is doing something more meaningful, far more fun, exotic, or way cooler than anything they are doing at that moment. As a result, one then feels lesser, more insignificant, and less important, all because of this fear of missing out… and comparing themselves to others.
     I have had to come to terms with this myself. I have seen folks travelling hither or yon and wishing I could do the same. I have seen friends playing music here or there with various musicians and wish I were with them. I have had to learn to appreciate what everyone else is doing without feeling like I was missing anything. I have also had to learn to appreciate all of what I do… much of which I am aware causes FOMO in others.
     Part of coming to terms with FOMO is the feedback other people have given me in person. They will make comments like, “I cannot believe all the stuff you do” or “Wow…

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you have a pretty full life.” Hearing such comments was a bit of a slap in the face, a zen-like, slap in the face. Indeed, I do have an interesting and fun life. I have a great family and enjoy all the gatherings that we do. I have a cool encore career as a college professor that allows me to continue to travel around the world as well. I play music. I write. What am I missing out on? Not much really. Actually nothing. So, I have learned to simply be aware and thankful for all the cool and wonderful things I am doing and, simultaneously, appreciate and marvel at what everyone else is also doing.
     Sidebar: Before the internet and social media explosion that has facilitated this FOMO concept, I had a similar thought about American television and movies. By the 1980s and 90s, our TV shows and movies were available throughout the world. I believed that the distribution of this media to some of the poorest peoples in the Middle East. They see the lifestyle, bounty, luxuries, and conspicuous consumption that some these TV shows and movies flaunt. I could see how zealots could use a kind of FOMO to radicalize people who have nothing and who barely scrape out an existence.

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     The cure for FOMO? Do less social media. Take a sobering look at the things that you actually do and the people that you interact with. You might be more fulfilled and happy than the FOMO fog has you feeling. Lastly, if there are things you really wish you might want to do from a hobby, travel, avocation, or vocation… pursue them. Will it all be exactly what you envision? Sometimes. In reality, most of the time for most of us not. For me, things do work out but never as I envisioned them, but I have realized that 70-80% of a vision or goal (many goals) can be quite fulfilling. So, no FOMO… Live Your Own Life (LYOL) and as the hippies used to say, Keep On Keepin’ On (KOKO).