FOMO, the psychological phenomenon that links anxiety and social media: what it is and how to identify it

THE social networks they came to stay. It is increasingly difficult to imagine a life without connection, especially since the platforms have long ceased to be only a means of communicating with loved ones or having fun. They have become a space to work, share stories, learn new activities and even, in some cases, discover other corners of the world.

The trap, quite well known at this stage, is that we see ourselves inserted into the mobile phone doing scroll non-stop for several hours. By simply tapping on the screen, we can go through a kind of window into the other’s world and we see what he listens to, what he eats, where he parties and even accompany him to his vacation spot, even if we are not with him. We may not even know this person whose content we have seen on the platforms, but we only know certain things about their life from what they post.

Although this daily connectivity with the rest may seem like a harmless thing, there are times when it can become a problem. And that’s it, who hasn’t felt a little, almost unstoppable agitation to check the phone and observe what is happening in another place, leaving aside the reality that is in front of them?

This feeling of emptiness is closely linked to the FOMO A freak psychological which does not date from a few years ago, but which has become even more accentuated with the massification and the increasingly refined development of social networks.

But is it a pathology? Are there people who might be more exposed to FOMO? What are the main signs to detect it?

FOMO comes from the English term Fear of missing something so in Spanish it translates to the fear of missing something . It can be described as an intense feeling of anxiety, dread and insecurity when a person believes they are missing a supposedly important event which is happening at that time, but which in reality might not be so important.

These negative feelings lead to wanting to be constantly connected on digital platforms since it delivers a membership for the moment, without considering that other things are left out.

“The danger is that it ends up becoming a vicious circle” , explains Alejandra Rossi, an academic at the Faculty of Psychology of the Diego Portales University. It should be noted that FOMO is not a pathology nor is it diagnosed, but rather a phenomenon of psychology.

The term is not new, having been coined in the 1990s by Dan Herman. At that time we used it more for fear of missing out on experiences where we could be physically, but today the concept has focused more on what is linked to social networks.

“I illustrate it as the fear of running out of battery at 1% on a Friday night, when the group of friends are planning to go out and you’re out of battery, so you don’t know what to do,” believes Guillermo Bustamante, academic at the Faculty of Communication of the Universidad de los Andes and doctor in communication.

The professor adds that this means that users, even more so younger ones, are always online to see what others are downloading: “They’re also posting them because it seems like now going to a social event is almost as important as posting the content about it” .

For Rossi, FOMO is also reflected when a person worries about something that is likely to happen in the future and knows they won’t be able to do it for various reasons.

“That term ‘fear’ isn’t really the fear that we know as a survival response, it’s not that type of cue that’s super related to stress. It’s more of an anxiety factor and anguish,” says Rossi.

Then add: “I would say that since the arrival of Facebook it has increased. It probably always has been, it’s part of the complexity of nature and human interactions, but I have no doubt it’s increased since the social media explosion.” .

Having FOMO at a specific time or often isn’t that hard to determine. The most obvious first clue is the the excessive use of social networks in daily life and the difficulty of disconnecting from them to the point where you still have to use some type of device with an internet connection several times a day, which can even last for hours.

“It is common for this medium to be the mobile phone or a portable device, such as a tablet or a computer. For this reason, you will always be aware of the charge of your device and it is possible that you have one or more chargers with you. He spends a lot of time posting or viewing content,” says Bustamante.

FOMO is also reflected when constantly reviewing the digital activity of others reached divert attention from activities of daily living whether in the context of studies or work. Performance in these areas may even be negatively affected.

“It is possible for a person to lose track of time, to feel like the day is going by faster and to even isolate themselves and be left alone in certain meetings or common areas because they are in his digital world” points out the professor from the Universidad de los Andes.

According to an article published in the magazine Global Journal of Clinical Cases in 2021, during this syndrome can be exacerbated the Sleep problems like insomnia. loneliness is another factor to consider, as forms of communication with fewer verbal cues “may result in less warmth and closeness between those interacting in verbal media”, which in turn leads to misinterpretations that cause no more dissatisfaction and loneliness, the post says.

At the same time there is ruminations , that is, not being able to stop thinking about something, says Rossi: “It is this little inner voice that speaks to us much more than we want it to speak to us. It makes us ruminate on why we weren’t invited to an event we saw or why we couldn’t go.”

This syndrome has also been linked to other problems such as low self-esteem And mental health problems . Rossi explains that it can occur with conditions that have a strong anxiety component, such as generalized anxiety syndrome, depression, adjustment disorder, and depressive anxiety disorder. However, the expert warns that FOMO is not always accompanied by these and other mental health issues, as it most often occurs on its own.

Finally, people with a more acute level of this syndrome may have a less healthy lifestyle , according to the publication of the magazine. “Feelings of envy and social exclusion are also linked to poor eating habits. Additionally, FOMO promotes high social media usage, which leads to a sedentary lifestyle that influences the obesity epidemic in young adults,” the study states.

Since teens and young adults tend to consume content across multiple platforms and in much larger quantities than other age groups, they are most affected by FOMO.

In recent years, different studies have sought to explore the relationship between excessive use of social networks and mental health problems in adolescents, especially at a time when children have been using devices and platforms almost since birth. . Some countries are taking steps to reduce this problem: China, for example, has proposed that children and adolescents be in front of the screen for a limited time, where the maximum is two hours.

“There are also ‘older’ adults who also get this feeling of not wanting to miss things or feeling really bad about it. You probably see it more in people who are younger or who have fewer responsibilities and more free time, ”underlines the UDP academic.

According to specialists, if someone suspects they have very exacerbated FOMO and wants to deal with it, the first step is to recognize that they have a heavy addiction to cell phones and unwanted content that is consumed online.

“There is a need to review how much time we use our phone, for example, devices like the iPhone have ‘screen time’ which indicates how much time we spend using our devices. There are a lot of ‘consumptive useless’ that are saved” said Bustamante.

Once this step has been completed, it is necessary to set the deadlines to be passed on the platforms: “You can ask the same Screen Time app to restrict usage when the time is up, but to do that you have to be aware you want to do it, because you can always skip.”

Rossi recommends that while time needs to be mastered to avoid that “fear” of being away, there’s no need to have zero contact with social media. A key measure that could help is diversify the type of content we consume on social networks ceasing to prioritize the most disposable accounts or people we don’t know, to give more space to those that have to do with our hobbies, for example music.

“It’s so that social networks serve me to feed more aspects of my tastes, not only what has to do with a group of people at the level of social interaction, but where I can learn or display from other facets of myself”, explains.

“It’s a way to reduce this vigilance in the lives of others. There’s almost no benefit to being so aware of other people’s activity. It’s also not that you expose your life day by day or every hour on social networks, it’s also an indicator that something is going on. .

Another practice that allows you to put aside this dependence is becoming more distracted by activities that can be done in real life . The ideal would be to be accompanied by other people, but it can also be done alone. Finding a hobby to focus on, engaging in physical activity outdoors, and gauging when we have physical social interaction with a person, paying attention instead of looking at the phone, are some of the metrics that can be used to combat this phenomenon.