A Bad Case of FOMO

Photo by Pixabay.

Well look at that! My friend made a Chocolate Sformato—a baked chocolate pudding—with amaretto whipped cream and little chocolate sprinkles on top. It looks fabulous! And I don’t get to taste it.

And WOW! That friend looks exactly like she did when we were in high school, except with better hair!

And that one is jetting off to Europe! I bet I don’t even get a postcard. Those are so 90s. Besides, she’s got more than a thousand friends. That would be a lot of postcards.

I wonder if I’m coming down with FOMO—Fear of Missing Out. I read about it on the internet, so it must be real. FOMO is that “blend of anxiety, inadequacy and irritation” that flares up when we’re using social media like Facebook or Instagram and seeing all the exciting things other people are doing while we sit around reading about it. Ironically, sitting around reading about it might be part of the reason we’re missing out.

Another article listed the following symptoms for something called Facebook Syndrome:

1. Comparing your life with the lives of your Facebook friends. How could I not do that? I haven’t been on vacation lately. And I can’t even say Sformato, let alone make it.

2. Having unrealistic perceptions of your friends’ levels of happiness. There’s always someone richer, thinner and driving a nicer car than me, just like outside Facebook. And there are all those pictures of smiling people. I try to remember that just because someone is smiling, doesn’t mean they like everyone else in the picture.

3. Obsessing about other people’s daily activities. Geez, I wonder how that dessert was. Look at that! She’s running another 10K. No wonder she looks so good. Hey! They were in town, and they didn’t even call!

4. Experiencing anxiety if you can’t check your newsfeed at regular intervals. This explains why we stare at our hand-held devices while we’re walking, eating and driving down the interstate at 75 miles an hour. Not that I do! I may be foolish, but I’m not coordinated. I do know plenty of people who check their newsfeed regularly though. I’ve had people I’m friends with on Facebook sitting in my living room checking Facebook.

I hate to admit it, but I have some other symptoms the article didn’t mention: I suffer from confusion when Facebook fiddles with its features.

I experience worry about friends whose posts I know I’ll look back on someday and see as warning signs I missed.

I suffer from annoyance at the barrage of political rants. Incidentally, I define rant as any political post I disagree with. Naturally if I agree with it, I find it not only wise, but entertaining.

The author suggests we can find relief from Facebook Syndrome when we begin to realize no one is as happy as their pages make them appear. Remember, nobody posts pictures of their bad hair day. Or their child’s poor report card. Or their scale when they’re standing on it.

And pay attention. There are plenty of posts that should make you feel pretty good about your life. Look, that friend is home with the flu. And that one broke his leg. And that one is hopelessly out of touch, based on her politics.

Finally ask yourself, what does it say that no one ever posts pictures of themselves sitting in front of their computer looking at Facebook? Put down the device. Back away from the computer. Go make your own Chocolate Sformato. And bring me some.