Our nervous system gets agitated and then we become uncomfortable and motivated to find relief,” she continues. If you feel you are suffering from feelings of missing out, it can be helpful to reach out to a friend or spend some time reflecting on the things you are grateful for in your life. Activities like these can help us put things in perspective as we gather a greater sense of belonging and release the anxiety of “missing out” on anything. Spending too much time on your phone or social media apps can increase FOMO. Reducing your usage, or even doing a digital detox where you take a break from digital devices, may help you focus more on your life without making constant comparisons.
FOMO Is Real: How the Fear of Missing Out Affects Your Health
By following accounts that inspire, educate, and reflect real-life experiences, you can minimize the impact of idealized relationships and reduce FOMO. By prioritizing face-to-face interactions and shared experiences, couples can create a stronger connection and reduce the influence of social media-induced FOMO. Additionally, individuals may come to rely on likes and comments from others to feel good about themselves and their relationships.
A journal is personal and only needs to be read by yourself, so you do not need to write in a way to impress others. Writing about things that bring you joy in a journal, for instance, can shift from focusing on public approval to private appreciation. This exposure to apparent perfection often amplifies the fear of missing out on a more fulfilling partnership (perhaps with a different partner). Social media exacerbates FOMO in relationships by enabling constant comparisons to others.
By Elizabeth Scott, PhDElizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing. This is easier said than done on social media, where we may be bombarded with images of things we do not have, but it can be done. Add more positive people to your feed; hide people who tend to brag too much or who are not supportive of you. It helps to know that our attempts to alleviate feelings of FOMO can often lead to behaviors that exacerbate it. However, understanding where the problem lies can be a great first step in overcoming it.
FOMO Symptoms
Sometimes, having fewer things but of higher importance or meaning brings the most joy. When feeling FOMO, stopping to take a few deep breaths before carrying on with your day can also help calm your mind down and help you think clearly. It can be really beneficial to try what makes bitcoins so valuable to appreciate what you already have in life, such as a home, health, or family for instance.
- It’s about actively cutting yourself off from the daily flood of news and information in the name of self-care and mental health.
- This exercise might help you see which relationships and activities you should focus more on than the ones that lead to FOMO.
- This can create unrealistic expectations of what our own relationships should be like.
- Additionally, if one partner in a relationship excessively shares personal details or intimate moments on social media, it can create discomfort and insecurity in both individuals.
- You can do this by taking inventory of your values by way of doing a value-based assessment.
This shows that increased use of social media can lead to higher stress rates caused by FOMO. People who are lonely or who engage in social avoidance tend to experience more FOMO and higher levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Those who enjoy spending time alone are less likely to experience FOMO. Congnitive behaviors connected to FoMO include compulsive refreshing of social media sites and notifications, heightening anxiety as an individual awaits the “reward” of a message or update. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is defined as worrying about being absent from or overlooking a rewarding social experience.
Remember, you are only seeing certain parts of others’ relationships
If this is the case, you may want to take some of your photos and memories offline and keep a personal journal of your best memories, either online or on paper. Adolescents and young people may be particularly susceptible to the effects of FOMO. Seeing friends and others posting on social media can lead to comparison and an intense fear of missing out on things their peers are experiencing. Girls experiencing depression tend to use social networking sites at a greater rate while, for boys, anxiety was a trigger for greater social media use.
While social media how to stake tether likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, how we use it and how often we use it certainly has a direct impact on our ability to experience FOMO. That will help you choose to spend time with the people you actually like in real life, doing things that make you more competent and effective. That way, you’ll be more likely to satisfy your basic social and emotional needs and less likely to fear missing out.
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO): Some Causes and Solutions
Conversely, actively managing your social media use and content exposure can lead to improved well-being by enhancing feelings how to buy nfts on crypto.com of social connectedness (Verduyn et al., 2017). Sharing your feelings of FOMO and working together to address them can strengthen your bond and alleviate the negative impact of social media on your relationship. The constant barrage of couples sharing their moments of joy and togetherness can create a heightened sense of missing out on those experiences. For example, if you are constantly seeing posts of engagements, weddings, and baby announcements, you may feel like your relationship is falling behind.
Symptoms
People may feel pressured to display their relationship as perfect to gain approval and validation from their online peers. The pressure to “keep up” with relationship trends and milestones on social media contributes to relationship FOMO. You may see photos and videos of other couples who seem to be having more fun, living more exciting lives, or having more successful relationships. Receiving notifications compels continual engagement with social media, evoking a fear of missing out (Tandon et al., 2020).
But for some people, the feelings can be intense and affect many parts of their life. It’s a Sunday afternoon, and you’re stretched out on your couch scrolling through social media on your phone. It was relaxing at first, until you saw a pic of one of your friends lounging by a pool. Jeremy Nicholson, M.S.W., Ph.D., is a doctor of social and personality psychology, with a focus on influence, persuasion, and dating. Everyone wants to feel competent, connected to others, and able to make their own choices.
When you are spending time together, focus on being present and connecting with each other. Spending quality time together means engaging in meaningful leisure activities as a couple. Couples can spend quality time together by engaging in shared hobbies, taking leisurely walks, cooking together, or having meaningful conversations without distractions. People tend to post about their best moments and accomplishments, and they often avoid sharing their struggles or challenges. This can lead us to believe that other people’s relationships are perfect, when in reality, all relationships have their ups and downs.
Regret is thought to be the strongest trigger for why people experience FOMO. The fear of missing out can go hand in hand with feelings of regret for missing out. Keeping a journal can help you to shift your focus from public approval to private appreciation of the things that make your life great. This shift can sometimes help you to get out of the cycle of social media and FOMO. The phenomenon is becoming increasingly common—in part thanks to social media—and can cause a lot of stress in your life.
In one large study, people with OCD were more likely to experience FOMO and more likely to be compulsive users of social media. The internet and social media certainly provide tons of options in various areas – whether it’s about things to do, or buy, or people to date. Fear of better options, or FOBO, is when you’re unable to make a choice because you’re afraid something (or someone!) better might come along. Key parts of FOMO include the feeling of sadness, anxiety, shame, or not feeling “good enough.” It could be that you’re sad or ashamed that you weren’t invited to an event. But it also may be that you’re overcome with the fear, stress, or regret that you’re not doing enough with your life.