It’s happening again isn’t it? You checked your snap chat one too many times and then BAM. There it was, right in your face like a spotlight. You saw your friends getting sushi (wait for it)…without you?!
It is to be expected to a certain extent. You aren’t free all the time; in fact, you’re one of the busier ones at the table. However true this might be, it still hurts to see them passing wasabi while you’re chilling at home clicking through Friends episodes.
Now that you sufficiently feel left out, take a step back. You just went zero to one hundred real quick with those emotions of yours. This might be a shock, but you have officially been diagnosed with FOMO.
This disease has been ravaging teen girls since MySpace sprung onto the scene in the the early 2000s. Since then, we haven’t been able to reverse the damage those “Top Friends” cost us. No matter what you click on, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter: they are all blaring signs that you are missing out on something. You might understand that you are acting a little (ok maybe a lot) irrational, especially when you reflect on the amazing friends you have. But we just can’t help let it get to us sometimes.
With this feeling of loneliness being completely unwarranted, what do we do to get out of the FOMO slump? According to TIME, it might be rooted in the fact that “you’re not feeling so hot about things”. Are you happy with where you are in your life? Professionally? Socially? Emotionally? Based on this perspective, FOMO could be the wake up call you need to make a change in your own life.
Other than that theory, another one is that you may be, for lack of a better word, delusional. Not everyone on social media is having an amazing time, it may just look like that to you. That pic of Jessica on the pier was completely planned, from her laugh to that lighting. You saw that story Ashley posted? She was at her parent’s friends house for Sunday dinner and they just happened to have a pool. Don’t worry, she’s secretly hiding from doing the dishes, not having an impromptu vacay in LA.
No matter what the root of your FOMO is, please do your best to realize it is all in your head. Even if it feels like you need to have a Britney 2007 moment, be sure to stay busy and stay away from those feeds.