Have you ever been sitting at home, scrolling through Instagram, when you see an acquaintance post about being at a happening party at one of the new clubs which you have been dying to go to?
Sadly, for you, you didn’t know about this upcoming party or no one invited you and now you are sitting around feeling sorry for yourself.
So, to ensure that this does not happen again, you like that club’s Facebook page, follow their Instagram page, and get in touch with all your party-goer friends just so that you never have to deal with missing out on a party like that again.
That, my friend, is called FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out.
The social pressure to be at the right place, with the right people can wear us down and significantly decrease our happiness. Social media channels amplify this pressure because everyone is posting about their perfect experiences and having the rest of the world believe that they are having the time of their lives.
The instant gratification and the power of a “like” that social media provides, makes it so that we keep going back, but keep feeling worse. We end up staying on social media for ungodly amounts of time, scared that we might miss something.
74%
feel stressed ‘often’ or ‘very often.’
53%
say they find themselves spending too much time online.
73%
want to improve their overall health (be more active, create stronger self-care routines, etc.)
We all can relate to feeling FOMO and we have to live with technology for the rest of our lives, but we should be able to decide how to do it.
The only cure for FOMO, is JOMO - the Joy Of Missing Out. When we say miss out, we don't mean stop trying to better yourself or achieve your goals. What we mean is that you must learn to be content with who and where you are at this point of time.
There's no need to compare yourself with others, instead tune out the background noise and focus on yourself. Once that competitive and anxious space in your brain has been freed, then you will have so much more time, energy and emotion to focus on conquering your true goals.
How to embrace JOMO?
Do what is important to you.
If you feel like you want time to work-out or cook so that you can eat healthier, then make time for it and do it.
Make these things a priority instead squandering your time on social media worrying about what everyone else is doing.
Being off of social media allows you to have more time doing things you like and actually experiencing real life.
Be present and disconnect.
If you are in the company of loved ones, then actually be in their company.
There's no need to wonder who posted what on instagram from that gathering you missed out on last night.
You will be missing out on the prospective bonding time with your loved ones who are in front of you at the moment. How can you ever get that time back?
Unsubscribe, Unfollow and Unlike.
Declutter your social media accounts and remove all those pages and people who make you feel FOMO or any other negative feelings.
You can also set a timer on how much time you can spend on each application so as to aid in cutting down your time spent online. You can also completely delete the app from your phone so as to only use social media on the mobile site or on a computer.
“Disconnect with technology, reflect on your thoughts and emotions and reconnect with yourself and with people in your life who truly matter.”
Remember, we do not want to grow old and wrinkly and have all these regrets of things we didn’t do because we had no time. So, read that book, plant that tree, get to know that cute old lady next door instead of spending all your time scrolling and scrolling and scrolling...
Here is a list of apps you can use to monitor and reduce the amount of time spent on social media.
Here is a quiz that lets you know how addicted you are to the internet.
Sources:
Comments