Do You Have FOMO?

FOMO.  I just heard about this for the first time Wednesday morning on the Today show.  It’s an acronym that stands for the fear of missing out.  According to a new study, 56% of social media users have it.

FOMO is “a fear of one’s social standing or how one is perceived amongst peers, and a need to constantly know what is happening and what others are doing,” according to Elizabeth Lombardo, a clinical psychologist in NYC.

The study says, “The problem for people with a high level of FOMO is they may become so involved in seeing what their friends are doing and they are not, they often ignore what they are actually enjoying themselves.”

“FOMO can cause anxiety, stress and, in more extreme cases, even depression…” she says.

• Ever surreptitiously check your phone under the table’s edge in a meeting?
• Perhaps you’ve walked into a lamp pole while checking Facebook on your phone? (This may, or may not have happened to me)
• Do you check Twitter first thing in the morning before brushing your teeth?
• Are you ever more present to Instagram than you are to your kids?
• Have you been known to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s because you’re depressed by the wedding, vacation, or concert pictures someone posted?

What if our obsession with the lives of others, is causing us to miss our own life?