FoMO: Fear of Missing Out

Around late May this year, my little brother, 10, was telling me that he was not able to
maximize his summer vacation. Our conversation went like this:
Cyre
:
Me:
Cyre
:

Ano ba yan, wala akong summer.

Ha? Panong wala?
Hindi ako nakapuntang Manila, wala pa tayong swimming,
wala akong nauupload sa facebook ko.

Shock was an understatement on my part. 2nd semester was just about to end (finally) and there
he was, rambling about not having summer. I remember then a post I read about FoMO: Fear
of missing out. Clearly, my brother is experiencing such at a very early age thanks to social
media. FOMO, according to Oxford English Dictionary, is the anxiety that an exciting or
interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social
media website. Of course, fear of missing out is hardly new. It has been induced throughout
history by triggers as newspaper (e.g. society pages) and party pictures depicting people at
their festive best. But now, instead of receiving occasional polite updates, we get reminders
around the clock, mainlined via social networking sites. In these situations, comparison and
conformity is being emphasized. The pressure group brings is not only limited to the people
physically around you. As for my brothers case, he felt pressured, he felt he was not maximizing
his time primarily because he was not experiencing what his friends on Facebook was
experiencing. His perceived group norm was based on what his friends on Facebook was
posting. Normative Social Information occurs when one changes behavior in order to gain
acceptance and approval from others. The belongingness was put into the virtual world that he
will feel belongingness only if he will also post how he spent his summer i.e. the places he went
to. The reaction buttons on Facebook became a means of approval from others. Instead of

enjoying the summer vacation of not attending class, his terms of enjoyment are going out of
town, similar on what he sees on social media.
Unfortunately, FoMO is not only based on trips of other people, but also on
achievements. "FoMO is especially rampant in the millennial community because they see a peer
achieving something they want, and somehow in their mind, that achievement means something
is being 'taken away' from them," said Darlene McLaughlin, M.D., assistant professor at the
Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. My cousin, age 17, felt that she was
experiencing higher level of stress since her class here in Saint Louis University runs from
Monday to Saturday, and her high school classmates, now studying in Metro Manila, does not
have class every Saturday. Her friends were sharing their schedules and she thought that it was
unfair, since they are having more vacant days than her. The pressure virtually was much
pronounced affecting her life, that she thought of transferring there. She thought of being
deprived of leisure at an early age. Communication thru social media made her aware of different
lifestyles. She is experiencing first hand, the difference, that it brought her anxiety. Again, virtual
belongingness was deemed important as the real one.
On the young working professionals, Dr. Andrew Przybylski of the University of Essex,
published in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour, a study in FoMO. He looked at a
sample of more than 2,000 working Britons aged 18-65 and found that the FoMO was highest for
those who didnt have their basic psychological needs feeling engaged, nurtured and
acknowledged met. Since we need others in our lives, we crave for attention and affirmation
from them. Another contributing factor to the rise of FoMo in the workplace is our obsession
with cultivating a personal brand. Sites such as LinkedIn are used for the sole purpose of
networking and pushing yourself on prospective employers. Its not social climbing, but its

close: the constant need to improve your social media ranking seem important to your peers.
Twitter followers and retweets provide the indirect measures people use to quantify their
importance and the reach of their personal brand, explains Dr Przybylski. And if no one
endorses you, it can leave you feeling left out. I had experience this firsthand. Since my job was
to communicate with job seekers in LinkedIn, I need to show that I have enough endorsement for
them to believe that I offer legit job openings. Moreover, I need to constantly connect to big
names of the industries I was assigned to.
According to a study by British company Deloitte Touch, it shows eight out of 10
Filipino working millennials want to be their own boss. It mentioned that millenials are bullish
and ambitious about their careers because they operate on the philosophies of "FoMO" or fear
out of missing out and "YOLO" or you only live once. "They believe they can bring more to the
table and they believe they are more socially connected. They think they can run companies. Up
to 7 out of 10 Filipinos would like to try entrepreneurship at some point in their lives," says Greg
Navarro, chief executive officer of Navarro Amper and Company, a member of the Deloitte
Southeast Asia Limited which conducted the 2015 Millenials Survey. Our generation grew up in
the age of smartphones and social media. My take on this is that, because of age, our credibility
as professionals are being downsized. And in return, there are millenials that will strive to
achieve Legitimate Power. Being in a position enable us this kind of power and age is somehow
put aside when this kind of power is attained. Our belief that we can do anything is indeed true,
but we know that it is an enduring process. We are also aiming for Expert Power. We want our
profession to speak for us. We connect socially, real and virtual, for older people to know that we
are doing something relevant for the community.

In general, this constant people watching whether online or in the office can be
distracting. According to McLaughlin (2013), "The problem with FOMO is the individuals it
impacts are looking outward instead of inward. When you're so tuned in to the 'other,' or the
'better' (in your mind), you lose your authentic sense of self. This constant FoMO means we are
not participating as a real person in our own world. Connected to this fear of missing out on
something better thats going on without you are these fake personas we promote on websites
like Facebook. It is fake because we often present only the best side of our lives on social
networking sites. After all, who wants to be friends with someone whos always posting
depressing status updates and who seems to be doing nothing interesting in their lives? It is harsh
truth that everyone seems to mind just show the best and positive sides. To inspire, yes, but
needless to say, there are other people that will feel FoMO because of what we are posting.
To overcome distance, people use social media to connect. It became the substitute for inperson contact. However, even if there is in-person contact available, people just seek
communication thru social media, weakening ties to people who are readily available. The
collective behavior was also put in the virtual world that people feel they belong if they are
online at the same time, even in different place. There will always be one or more that will post a
status update or will check-in at a certain restaurant or hotel. This is some kind of similar
behavior on different persons connected thru social media. The need to be acknowledged was
also there. The reaction buttons available also promotes this since there is the affirmation that
there are people who put time to read to whatever you posted. To achieve belongingness,
affirmation and acceptance, people at this time, sought also the virtual world. It cannot be
avoided because of technology, however, it must be emphasized that the virtual world brings
instant but short-lived happiness. Fear of missing out can be stressful but it pays to focus on

bonds outside social media. In the end, constant presence of significant group of people in our
lives bring lifetime happiness.

References
ABS CBN News (2015). 7 of 10 Filipino millennials want to be 'boss', are more
ambitious. Retrieved July 13, 2016 from http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/06/29/15/7-10-filipinomillenials-want-be-boss-are-more-ambitious
Australian Psychological Society (2015). Is FoMO Affecting Australians? Retrived on
July 13, 2016, from https://www.psychology.org.au/psychologyweek/survey/results-fomo/
Cohen, C. (2013). FoMo: Do you have a Fear of Missing Out?. Retrieved on July 13,
2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10061863/FoMo-Do-you-have-aFear-of-Missing-Out.html
Grohol, J. (2013). FOMO Addiction: The Fear of Missing Out. Psych Central. Retrieved
on July 12, 2016, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/04/14/fomo-addiction-thefear-of-missing-out/
Health24 (2015). Do you fear being offline, or separated from your phone? Retrieved on
July 13, 2016 from http://www.health24.com/Columnists/Are-FOBO-and-PSA-just-forms-ofFOMO-20150916
Texas A&M University. (2016, March 30). FOMO: It's your life you're missing out on.
ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 12, 2016 from
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160330135623.htm