Have you ever felt afraid of being left behind, whether it's about the latest information or the latest trends? You may have experienced FOMO syndrome.
FOMO is a syndrome that has recently become ubiquitous. There are various causes of FOMO, one of which is the use of gadgets and excessive media consumption.
So, what is FOMO? Let's discuss more in the following description.
What Is FOMO
Fear of Missing Out or more often abbreviated as FOMO is a term as well as a syndrome that is crowded in society. As the name implies, FOMO is the fear of being left behind, and generally, this fear refers to a booming trend.
FOMO can attack anyone, male or female, young or old. This term was first popularized in 2013 by a scientist named Dr. Andrew K. Przybylski. From his presentation, it can be concluded that FOMO is a syndrome or a phenomenon in which a person believes that all precious moments that occur should not be missed. This of course makes anyone who feels uneasy and constantly feels restless if they fail to follow what they see.
The Danger of FOMO
FOMO is a phenomenon that is quite dangerous and can interfere with various aspects of our lives. These include affecting financial conditions, threatening mental health, and affecting one's social relationships. The full explanation is as follows.
1. Affecting Financial Conditions
FOMO can encourage anyone to do things beyond reason just to satisfy the ego and let go of feelings of being left behind. This is what makes people with FOMO syndrome financially difficult. Because, they will be willing to do anything just to follow the trend, without exception spending quite a lot.
From this bad habit, various financial obstacles arise. Among other things, it is difficult to save, consumptive nature is wasteful, reckless in debt, or relies on borrowing even though it is illegal.
2. Threatening Mental Health
FOMO is the tendency of people to post positive experiences rather than negative ones because of the fear of missing out on a particular moment. The existence of this feeling of fear can interfere with a person's mental health such as stress, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, lack of confidence or feelings of inferiority.
3. Affect One's Social Relationships
When FOMO begins to infect a person and that person has not been able to realize his desire to follow what is considered good, that person tends to isolate himself from others.
On the other hand, people with FOMO syndrome also have a tendency to underestimate the tastes of people who differ from the views of the crowd. Worse yet, those who have FOMO will find it difficult to communicate in real life because they are too focused on the virtual world.
Factors Causing the Occurrence of FOMO
Fear of Missing Out or FOMO is a phenomenon that arises due to excessive use of social media. Various other contributing factors also contributed to it.
1. Excessive Use of Gadgets
2. Comparing Yourself to Others
3. Lack of gratitude for what you have
4. Easily Influenced By The Surrounding Environment
Characteristics of People Affected by Fomo
As humans, of course, we don't want to feel left behind and always try to upgrade ourselves to be better again and again. However, if this feeling of not wanting to be left behind isn't out of necessity or out of kindness, you should be suspicious because it could be a sign of FOMO. The following are characteristics of people affected by FOMO.
Image Source: Freepik/monsterstudio
1. Spending A Lot Of Time Playing Gadgets
2. Social Media Is More Important Than Real Life
3. Thirsty for the Latest gossip and Information About Other People's Lives
4. Willing to spend a lot of money to follow the latest trends
5. Don't mind saying 'yes' if asked to follow something that is currently busy/popular
6. Always Want to Know the Latest News
If left unchecked, FOMO can have more severe negative effects such as mental disorders
FOMO Phenomenon in Indonesia
FOMO is a term that many young people use. However, FOMO can attack anyone. The following are some of the FOMO phenomena that have occurred and some of them are still ongoing today.
1. Stock Investment
Stock investment was booming from the beginning of the pandemic until 2022 as it is now. Unfortunately, this existing trend is not matched by good knowledge related to financial literacy. As a result, many people are competing to sell their valuable assets in order to invest in stocks. Many are also willing to borrow funds here and there for this trend. No doubt, many people are trapped in Ponzi schemes.
The most common problem that is often encountered in addition to Ponzi schemes is that the stock is stuck at the highest price which makes it difficult to resell due to the act of the dealer "frying" or selling the stock when demand is high.
2. Trading
Many ordinary people think of trading as something cool. This assumption is found everywhere, making many parties irresponsible to lure large trading results through advanced technology in the form of Trading Robots. This robot functions as trade management that offers daily profit or continuous wins at a high rate. Unfortunately, all of that is just a trick because the money you get cannot be disbursed or the strongest trading robot company is fake.
3. Crypto
Crypto coins once became a trend that made many people become victims because of FOMO. Because of the hits, several well-known celebrities in the country have even released their own crypto coins and claim that the existing coins are capable of "to the moon". Like other FOMO cases, this trend is also shrinking and is actually hurting many people.
How to Prevent FOMO
Here are some tips that you can do to prevent FOMO from happening.
1. Limit Social Media Consumption and Gadget Use
The more often we play on social media, the more likely we are to be poisoned by what we see. Because there will always be a tendency within us that is never satisfied with what we have. Not to mention that social media is a place to show skills where people will not show bad things in the form of sadness or misery they are facing. Instead, they will show something that indicates happiness and other pleasures.
2. Respect Yourself
Fear of Missing Out is more likely to have a lot of negative effects. One of them is consumptive nature because of our willingness to buy something just because it is being talked about a lot or is being loved by people. This is certainly very disturbing to your monthly cash flow.
3. Focus on yourself and the goals you want to achieve
Focusing on yourself and your goals will keep you on track on the right track. Because you will think twice about wasting time on things that are temporary and can interfere with your main goal.
4. Develop Hobbies and Explore Your Potential
Focusing on hobbies and continuing to learn to increase the value that is in yourself will bring a good influence on us. We will not be easily distracted by the most up-to-date things that take up a lot of our time and make us tempted.
5. Many Thanks and Always Think Positive
FOMO causes no-no or negative thinking tips. Therefore, learn to be grateful for what we have and think positively. Everyone has their own path in life, therefore we may not be exactly the same as them or what we see on social media.
6. Change Commonly Viewed Content or Topics
Changing the content we normally consume in the media can have a big impact. Because this content is the main source of us wanting something or getting caught up in the trend.
That's the information about FOMO Is Causes, Characteristics, and How to Prevent It. Hopefully, we can all avoid this phenomenon and be wiser in responding to the latest trends. Although FOMO can attack anyone, we can still control this syndrome as long as we have full control over ourselves and understand the goals in life we want to achieve.
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