These days, we connect both online and offline. With the popularization of new technologies and, in particular, social media, digital media has become a new space for interaction. In this new digital world, FOMO syndrome, an acronym for “fear of missing out,” is gaining ground.
This new disorder is characterized by a social fear that has always existed: exclusion is the bitter feeling of feeling that we lack something that other people appreciate, that feeling begins with a simple perception, that grows and tortures us, to the point. that we must always be connected to the Internet so that nothing goes unnoticed.
- Knowing that our friends are going to do something.
- Or that they have a better program than ours.
- Makes us feel like we’re missing something and that our lives are less interesting than theirs.
- Thanks to mobile phones and the speed of social media.
- This Sense of vigilance and fear has become a common companion in the lives of many people.
The cause of this phenomenon is the fact that we are permanently connected to the Internet, with new technologies this disorder reaches new dimensions, which requires the analysis of sociologists, psychologists and even doctors, we will delve into that.
“Pleasure can be the dessert of our lives, but it can never be the main dish. ” Harold Kushner?
Imagine this: you are quietly at home on a Saturday night, enjoying a good movie, a good book or a good conversation, then you connect to Facebook and you see that your friends are traveling or eating in a renowned restaurant, if this puts you in trouble, then you are a victim of FOMO syndrome.
Everyone, at some point, can fall victim to something similar and have the painful feeling of losing something. So far all this is pretty normal, but when a good time is canceled when you find out that a friend is having fun doing something you don’t know, you have a problem.
Social media, where only good things are reported, becomes a new element of agony. Consumerism, the fact that we always want something we don’t have, and that we believe is fundamental to our happiness, joins the anguish of constantly knowing that we are missing something.
“There are two types of men: those who think and those who have fun. “? Charles Louis of Secondat?
You could say that this fear of losing something has always existed. However, due to smartphones and the ubiquity of social media, it has become something else, a fundamental human motivation due to our need for belonging.
Being a member of a group is important for social identity, a key element of self-esteem, which is why social networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, play a key role in people’s relationships.
Thanks to new technologies, we always know what others are doing and, therefore, what we lack, that is what FOMO syndrome generates, which causes anxiety and feeling of misfitting or exclusion.
According to one study, 3 out of 10 people between the age of 13 and 34 experienced this feeling, and this usually happens when they see their friends doing things they weren’t invited to. Does that happen to you, too?
“The desire to lose nothing is very absorbing and, as a result, efficiency is increasingly valued, looking for tools and shortcuts to achieve greater productivity in less time.