Since the arrival of social media, FOMO justifiably gets a lot of press, as it plays on our insecurities, and on our psychological need to be recognized and valued, to belong to a community, and to take part in exciting and meaningful events. I sense that young people feel the sting most acutely, and in dangerously bitter degrees not previously felt by earlier generations. The omnipresent and comparative nature of social media is especially damaging as these still developing teens and twenty somethings view the carefully curated lives of their peers, and inevitably fall short! It must be like a gut punch as they instinctively know that glamour, intense camaraderie, and spectacular parties just aren't their reality, and those much longed for precious memories, and diary entries, simply won't develop...because they didn't happen. I believe adults can also fall prey to FOMO, and it may well lead to deep resentment toward the elites, and those benefiting most from all that capitalism has to offer. And I wonder what role FOMO had in the rise of Trump.
The antidote to FOMO may an expanded view of both the present and the past, and an appreciation for the fact that we should damn well be grateful that we are missing out on so many things. Simply look at sub-Saharan Africa, where wages of $2 per day are not unheard of, examine the horrors of the Middle East, Ukraine, Sudan, Venezuela, etc. These should give Americans pause, and a sense of gratitude. FOMO victims should ponder lives without vaccines, supermarkets, clean water, highways, electricity, social safety nets, the list is endless! And for those anti-government, "Don't tread on me" types, who think they are missing out on some kind of rugged individualist frontier paradise, they would do well to give thought to Thomas Hobbes's argument that without government, life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
FOMO, much like resentment and envy, taps into our psyche, and the ugliest part of human nature, like few things do. We'd be well served to recognize this dark side of our psychology, and resist its pull. We also need to take stock of the enormous progress that has been achieved here and the obligation we have to help extend it to the rest of the world.
Peter T.
