College is a time of cramming a social life into packed days for almost every student. There are never enough hours in a day to succeed in school, participate in extracurriculars, and dedicate time to being social. Usually, if you have great time management, you can balance your life accordingly. However, balance means give and take… which means you’ll be saying no to hangouts with friends sometimes. This is where FOMO comes into play. FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, is that icky feeling you get when you realize you either A) just got invited to something that all of your friends will be at tonight… but you have a 20-page paper due, or B) got left out of something (bonus points if you find out via a Snapchat story). We’ve all been there, and it sucks, but sometimes you need to let social activities pass you by. Here’s how to curb your FOMO.
My main tip is to turn your phone off, especially if you’re missing out because you need to do an assignment. How terrible would it be if you skipped the event to do that huge paper, and then can’t stop checking to see if any of your friends are posting about it so much that you don’t even end up getting what you need to do done? If you are explicitly denying plans to do something else that is more important, make sure you actually are doing the said thing.
If it’s the case that you’re being left out of plans, the problem runs deeper than your FOMO, unfortunately. Unless your FOMO is self-inflicted, it is not your own problem to fix. Talk to those friends who are leaving you out and share your feelings with them.
Furthermore, recognize that FOMO is a part of life. We have all been there, and you should not expect yourself to have infinite hours in a day to be able to do whatever you want to do. Time and task delegation is an extremely important skills to have, and if your FOMO is there because of responsible choices you made, you should be patting yourself on the back.
FOMO might not be a feeling that you can fully push down and ignore, but knowing how to talk to and reassure yourself that you are feeling it for a reason can be extremely helpful in mitigating it. I have horrible FOMO but have never regretted staying in and getting that paper done or writing that story rather than joining in on whatever my friends were up to. FOMO is real, and it’s a doozy, but let it be a reminder that you’re putting yourself first by being responsible and that is the most important thing of all.