WHAT IS FOMO?
FOMO is the emotion or perception one feels about his/her friends when they are having fun, enjoying life, and have the best experiences. We all go through everyone's stories on Insta don’t we? Exactly why must we waste our precious time thinking about “oh this or that person is having fun OR oh this or that person is enjoying and having a hearty time “.FOMO is not just the sense that there might be better things that you could be doing at this moment, but it is the feeling that you are missing out on something fundamentally important that others are experiencing right now.
EFFECTS OF FOMO?
Most of the emotions experienced with FOMO seem negative.60% of us consumers make a purchase after experiencing FOMO, within 24 hours. In a FOMO study, nearly half of Millennials surveyed attend live events so they have something to share online.40% of millennials overspend or go into debt to keep up with their friends.
WHAT IS JOMO?
The joy of missing out, and it simply refers to the gratifying feeling you get when you break away from the (real or virtual) activities of your social group and spend time doing exactly what you most want to do. JOMO is of course achieved in many different ways depending on personalities and the lives we lead.
Instead of spending hours on Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp, it might itself do something that we enjoy and love doing. We crib and say we don’t have time for fun activities but that’s because we don’t realize how much time we waste using social media. For many people, true JOMO is only possible when they take a brief digital detox, shutting themselves off from social media and any virtual connection to the world around them so that they're not bombarded with unsettling thoughts about what other people are doing or expecting of them.
OVERCOMING FOMO
Limit screen time(MOST IMPORTANT)
Change your focus
Rather than focusing on what you lack, try noticing what you have. 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. You can change your feed to show you less of what triggers your FOMO and more of what makes you feel good about yourself.
Keep a journal
It is common to post on social media to keep a record of the fun things you do. However, you may find yourself noticing a little too much about whether people are validating your experiences online. 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. This 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.
Seek out real connections
You may find yourself seeking a greater connection when you are feeling depressed or anxious, and this is healthy. Feelings of loneliness or exclusion are actually our brain's way of telling us that we need to seek out greater connections with others and increase our sense of belonging. Unfortunately, social media engagement is not always the way to accomplish this—you might be running from one bad situation right into an even worse one.
Rather than trying to connect more with people on social media, why not arrange to meet up with someone in person? Making plans with a good friend, creating a group outing, or doing anything social that gets you out with friends can be a nice change of pace, and it can help you to shake that feeling that you are missing out. It puts you in the center of the action. If you do not have time to make plans, even a direct message on social media to a friend can foster a greater and more intimate connection than posting to all of your friends and hoping for "likes."
Focus on gratitude
Studies show that engaging in gratitude-enhancing activities like simply telling others what you appreciate about them can lift your spirits as well as those of everyone around you. This is because it is harder to feel as if you lack the things you need in life when you are focused on the abundance you already have. It also holds true because making others feel good makes us feel good. This lift in mood may be just what you need to relieve yourself of feeling depressed or anxious. You likely will not feel as tempted to go down the rabbit hole of social networking and FOMO when you realize how much you already have. You will begin to feel that you have what you need in life and so do other people. This can be wonderful for your mental and emotional health.
No matter whether you’re a FOMO or JOMO if you’re totally at peace with the way that you are and enjoy your time doing exactly what you are doing, then keep at it. While JOMO is supposedly the ideal state of mind, there is a borderline between FOMO and JOMO which is very easy to cross in all directions.
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