i have jomo (joy of missing out)

please stop inviting me to things

black mirror season 3 episode 1: nosedive

Fear of missing out (FOMO) was coined in 2004 to describe a two-fold phenomenon: 1) the perception of missing out and 2) a compulsive behavior to maintain social connections.¹ FOMO is characterized by the desire to always stay connected with others, and later conceptualized by using the self-determiniation theory.² This theory proposes that FOMO is an affective emotional state that results from unmet social relatedness needs, and can exist as an episodic feeling while in conversation, a long-term disposition, or a state of being that leads to rage, infeiority, or loneliness. A systematic review that included 36 studies³ captured ways in which FOMO affects mental health, social functioning, sleep, academic performance, neurodevelopmental disorders, and physical well-being.

It is clear that not everyone is susceptible to FOMO, and one way or another, most people gradually transition from bouts of FOMO to a state of JOMO, an acronym for joy of missing out. The conceptualization of JOMO is embedded within the freedom and decision to opt for disconnection, and finding joy instead of isolation in the decision to disengage.⁴⁵ As this phenomenon began gaining traction in the scientific community, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, a framework was proposed—Social Media FOMO to JOMO, which describes how mindless social media use can lead to FOMO.⁶ The authors also provided a novel Social Media Mindfulness Practice to reduce FOMO and adopt JOMO, a path that is attributed to better well-being.

Chan et al., Social media fear of missing out (FOMO) to joy of missing out (JOMO) framework

I will be walking through the three Social Media Mindfulness Practice (SMMP) steps and how I applied them to go from living a life of FOMO to JOMO.

Consumers must gain awareness of their social media behaviors and outcomes to develop more mindful consumption habits. Awareness refers to the conscious experience of the inner (e.g., sensory, cognitive, or habits of the mind) and outer (e.g., social, physical, or marketing) stimuli that create conditions for disrupting habitual reactions and making informed choices.⁷