Nama : Agitha Diva Winampi

NIM : 153200047

Kelas : Bahasa Inggris – IK/D

Getting Over Fear of Missing Out on Social Media

In recent years, information and communication technology has developed rapidly and
has made the internet the main communication tool that is in great demand by the public.
Without realizing it, this is the background of the change in communication technology from
conventional to modern and all-digital. Furthermore, the development of internet media as a
means of communication has also become increasingly rapid after the internet can be
accessed via cell phones, which in the end emerged the term smartphone. With the presence
of smartphones, the facilities provided for communicating are increasingly diverse, ranging
from SMS, email, browsing, and social media.
Social media has a definition that develops from the definition of social network sites,
namely: “web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public
profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a
connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others
within the system” (Boyd & Ellison, 2007, p. 211). In other words, social media is a medium
on the internet that allows users to represent themselves and interact, collaborate, share,
communicate with other users to form virtual social bonds. However, this can turn into
anxiety when they check their social media and see all the fun that their friends or celebrities
are having. This makes them unable to stop monitoring other people's activities on social
media. This situation is known as the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO).
Based on its history, the word FoMO was popularized by Patrick J. McGinnis in his book
entitled FoMO (Fear of Missing Out). Patrick J. McGinnis accidentally introduced the
acronym FoMO in his scientific journal when he was a student at Harvard Business School
(HBS) in 2004. According to Patrick J. McGinnis, the definition of FoMO is divided into
two, namely:
1. Unwanted anxiety arising from the perception of other people's experiences that are
more satisfying than one's own where this exposure is usually obtained through social
media.
 2. Social pressure that comes from feeling left out of an event or being left out of a
positive or memorable collective experience.
Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is a strong desire to stay connected with what other people
are doing through cyberspace (Przybylski, 2013). In the same sense, FoMO is the anxiety or
motivation that social media users feel when they want to be part of a group, event, or even a
moment uploaded by someone else. FoMO affects people of all age groups and across social
media platforms. Basically, people who experience FoMO have a fear of being left behind,
which can lead to excessive anxiety and depression.
So, is there really a relationship between FoMO and social media use? A new study
(Fioravanti et al., 2021), published in the scientific journal Computers in Human Behavior,
investigates the relationship between an individual's level of FoMO and social media use, as
well as problematic social media. In the study, the authors integrated results from 33
independent samples on FoMO and social media for a total number of 21,473 participants.
The results are clear: People who exhibit more FoMO also exhibit more problematic use of
social media.
The results show that FoMO and social media use, as well as problems resulting from
social media use, are interrelated. As this is a correlative study, there is no clear statement as
to whether or not FoMO causes social media use. On the one hand, it can be assumed that
people with high FoMO check the social media feeds of their friends and family to not miss
what is happening in their life. On the other hand, the association can also be the other way
around. If someone is constantly checking other people's social media feeds, they can develop
FoMO because they see other people doing all these amazing things all the time.
The presence of social media provides a wide space, namely increasing variety and
creativity, in self-presentation (Luik, 2011). Which self-presentation are the steps for
presenting the front stage of the individual, or actor, through verbal and nonverbal expression
or communication (Goffman, 1956). Thus, self-presentation on social media has become a
central topic in content creation because of the interconnected nature of social media.
Quoting what was conveyed by Stanley Milgram in Van Dijk (Dijk, 2006) regarding six
degrees of separation, every human being can connect with other humans in a maximum of
six layers. Thus, the presence of social media makes interconnection between humans easier.
After a day of activities, the evening is a comfortable time to relax by browsing social
media such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok. Then we'll see a friend has
uploaded a photo of dinner at a fancy place. Another friend uploaded a video enjoying the
sunset on the beach. Next, the celebrity you follow uploads photos of their vacation abroad.
The more you browse the more posts about your friends or other people you follow on social
media, your anxiety just keeps growing and growing. This emotion is hard to explain, but it
feels like a strange combination of exclusion, self-loathing, and envy. It's a strange and
completely empty feeling, and it's becoming more and more common among social media
users. This social media phenomenon is known as the Fear of Missing Out or FoMO.
Without us realizing it, this FoMO phenomenon has almost attacked everyone in this
digital era. The unstoppable flow of information in this digital media era makes it easy for
everyone to be able to find out in detail the latest news and information from all over the
world. Through various social media platforms, everyone can communicate by sending short
messages, phone calls, video calls, uploading photos, videos, and knowing the activities of
family, friends, and even world celebrities. This very intense virtual world interaction can
actually trigger a condition called FoMO. Actually, this FoMO condition is not something
new. In the era before social media came into existence and became part of human life,
humans have also felt a state of fear of missing out on information through newspapers once
a day or photos of tours or parties when visiting friends' homes. Now, social media makes it
easy for us to see what all our friends or family are doing all the time.
People who frequently use social media are the people most prone to experiencing FoMO.
FoMO people tend to frequently check other people's social media feeds so as not to miss
what's happening in their lives. However, one can also become FoMO when constantly
tempted by other people's social media notifications showing other people doing amazing
things all the time.
If we think more deeply, actually in this life we don't really need to know other people's
lives. Why do we know other people's lives? Why don't we just focus and enjoy the life we
live? And sometimes, we as social media users unwittingly often become selfish because
almost every post we upload on our social media is a photo or video of our best version. Do
any of us wake up with unrefreshed faces posting these appearances on social media? Even if
there is, it is certainly the content and persona that you want to build on social media to
quickly go viral or to get a lot of people's attention. Unknowingly, through our super great
posts, some people secretly envy us. There are people who are secretly sad and have low self-
esteem, which is why their life always feels sad. This is following research which states that
FoMO is prone to occur in those who feel lonely, isolated, have a negative view of
themselves so that they have low self-esteem and lack of self-love.
The thing that might be worth remembering is that when we post eating sushi or ramen at
a famous restaurant, there is a small child who hasn't even eaten all day. When we upload
photos on vacation in exotic and exclusive places, there are families who don't even have a
home and have to live on the streets for years. These things should be able to make us more
selective in posting things. Sometimes we don't think that posts that we think are just for our
pleasure, can make other people feel uncomfortable seeing them. If you think about it further,
who am I with only a few followers can make other people feel inferior. And as we all know,
we can't get other people to think and agree with us. We should be aware and always learn to
be careful in using social media. Without being mean, we are not always pleasant people and
have a good impact on others.
The study of FoMO is still in its early stages and solutions for it are not yet deep, but
some steps can be taken to overcome FoMO. The first is by fasting on social media. In the
past few months, I have significantly reduced my social media playtime. It's not easy when
previously I was very active all day on social media, then suddenly reduced the intensity of
using social media. However, gradually and slowly this act of fasting on social media can
give you a feeling of being wiser in using social media. Every month I take a break from
social media for a whole week. I took this action, especially in the use of Instagram, Twitter,
Youtube, and TikTok, which require me to know other people's lives. By doing this social
media fast, we can keep a healthy mind, can be calmer without being distracted by social
media notifications that friends and celebrities we follow on social media are sharing their
happy moments.
Then, to reduce the sense of FoMO in ourselves, we must change our focus. We need to
focus less on the things that are not in our lives, strengthen our focus on the good things that
already exist in our lives. For example, instead of worrying about thinking that we haven't
been to the best restaurant that our friends are visiting right now, we'd better be grateful to be
able to have a warm dinner at home with family.
Next is self-confession. Cultivate compassion within us. When we connect with
ourselves, we become more self-accepting. We will no longer be busy comparing our lives
and ourselves with others. Don't forget to keep interacting with other people regularly in the
real world, not the virtual world. Face-to-face meetings provide richer, more complex, and
tangible interactions and relationships. This can reduce feelings of loneliness or isolation.
And lastly, change the mindset of FoMO to JoMO (Joy of Missing Out. According to Kristen
Fuller, JoMO is the smartest antidote to FoMO because with JoMO we are basically present
and content with where we are now in life. Our
Time is limited in this life, when we are observant can be happy from what and who is
around us, so it feels no longer necessary to be someone who is Fear of Missing Out (FoMO).
Patrick J. McGinnis said that we must learn to be brave not to experience everything. Stop
trying to do everything and be everything. In fact, we can achieve everything we want—
without having to have everything. Instead of craving the things we missed, we will feel
relieved once we have put everything aside. We will rejoice in what we don't have and can
actually direct attention to other things that are really important in life.