This post originally appeared in Article 3.
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By Antoinette Siu | September 11, 2012
Recently over dinner, a few of my friends finally managed to get together for our long-awaited catch-up. You know that feeling: phone tags, missed IMs, buried emails. Somehow, hectic schedules and personal commitments always seem out of sync and, week after week, you take a raincheck on “let’s grab lunch sometime”. But for Millennials (A.K.A. Generation Plugged-In), what’s perhaps most attractive about technological integration is that it allows us to keep track of one another — without ever being in sync. Enter: FOMO, or “Fear Of Missing Out”.
Although not a psychiatric or widely-recognized condition at this point, the social epidemic looming over our bright screens as we post photos and update statuses is already eating the population away. The New York Times, Mashable, Sherry Turkle, and a number of experts have acknowledged and written about it.
Our constant obsession to publicly broadcast our minute-by-minute lives can be overwhelming. Don’t be mistaken, social media and technology have their definite upsides. Communication couldn’t come more effortlessly, especially for those with location and time constraints. But then again, if we only ever have time for our friends when they’re online, what does that say about our relationships?
Believe it or not, the bigger downsides can be a greater disconnect and potential unhappiness in one’s social life.
The tremendous influence these different technologies has over us is, quite frankly, frightening. Whether you’re at happy hour or watching a movie at home, it’s that feeling you get that you’re losing out on some social connection. It’s the possibility that something might happen and you’d miss out; maybe it’s colleagues at a party or your roommate’s new job announcement. Whatever it is, we find it hard to resist pulling out cellphones in the middle of conversations or jumping on Facebook while waiting in line to find out. We start developing a fear that something better might be more deserving of our attention.
Instant gratification provided by plugging in to various technologies makes chiming in even more accessible and appealing. At times, being in the know even disillusions us into thinking that we’re vicariously having a great time.
FOMO can work both ways, and it takes one to know one. If you’re not on the sidelines monitoring every move in your circle, you’re on top of pushing your content. Showing off meals, hangouts, new pets. Adding your voice to every conversation. We’re beginning to engage in a culture of one-upping one another, comparing what we’re doing versus what we could be doing.
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