While FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) has been a relevant term in the most recent years of my life, I never thought of it as anything more than an occasional nagging feeling I’d have while scrolling through Instagram on family vacations. However, stepping onto campus on August 15th, I realized FOMO is no longer an acronym fad that will one-day fall into the back of my mind somewhere beside “YOLO”, but an epidemic that every college freshman suffers from.
For those of you who don’t know, FOMO is a new term brought about by we, acronym-loving millennials, to describe the feeling you get when thinking “Is everyone hanging out without me?” It’s being afraid of not seizing every possible opportunity to have fun. I can’t speak for the rest of my freshmen class, but when I wake up on Sunday morning, it’s not the New York Times I’m reaching for; it’s my phone- the holy grail of information, the savior of my social life. So begins my classic morning routine: scrolling through my Instagram feed, Facebook homepage and accumulated MyStory’s. Even Yik-Yak has been infested, with anonymous college students’ accounts of the previous night’s events, all furiously attempting to undermine their peers through witty remarks about their wild and rowdy night. It’s mornings like those that I stare at my wastebasket overflowing with last nights “Tollhouse Pre-made Cookie Dough” wrappers, my mind heavy with guilt and regret. Sure, I may have had a good time squeezed between friends on a crowded futon watching timeless rom-coms and gaining our freshmen 15 in one night, but after viewing the activities of my peers, I began questioning every choice I made the previous night. Suddenly a responsible decision of spending a night-in to recharge seems like social suicide.
In college, it seems like every night can make or break one’s social life. People’s friend groups multiply like rabbits, and somehow, in the blink of an eye, it seems like everyone has found their place. The social scene alone is enough to make a college freshman suffer from a little FOMO, but combined with the other opportunities provided at universities, it’s an illness that can drive even the most confident collegiate insane. I receive emails everyday plastered with vibrant images of students having the times of their lives. “Come Monday night and see what all the hype is about!” every club encourages, “you’d be a perfect fit!” Suddenly my Monday plans change from hitting the books in my dorm room to attending random meetings, bumping into random peers along the way. While due dates draw closer, I find myself standing outside the BLUU with a bowl of free ice cream, petting a monkey with random people I’ve never met. Why? It’s simple– I don’t want to miss out on the “college experience.”
It’s human nature to compare oneself to others, and social media only amplifies our tendencies to do so. It’s as simple as hitting the top right “refresh” button on Instagram. New pictures, new statuses, new comments, which when combined, are just more evidence of what you missed while you were sleeping, showering, studying, etc. Even without the internet, FOMO still exists. Despite the community that comes with living in a dorm, there is also the added reminder of everything you didn’t do. No matter what time I come home to the dorm on any given night, there will be plenty of peers stumbling in after me with their own detailed stories of what they preceded to do after I headed home. Suddenly my Saturday night experience seems overshadowed and insignificant as I listen to the stories of my neighbors. The guilt and loneliness FOMO causes adds so much stress to the beginning of college. As if school work isn’t hard enough to stay focused on, it doesn’t make it any easier when my group messages are being bombarded with addresses to meet at and videos of my friends and sorority sisters dancing on tables with one another. Who can stay in the library when there’s an opportunity to dance on a table? There are too many possibilities and not enough time to take advantage of them all; the plethora of freedom and opportunities is hard to choose from and balance.
Honestly, at the end of the day, despite how real FOMO is, it’s just a mental obstacle you have to try and get over. I may not be an expert on college, but from what I’ve learned so far, valuable friendships and crazy memories can be made a variety of different ways. As cliché as it may sound, it all comes down to owning your decisions. Don’t regret not going to that one frat party or student ran event- there will be more free T-shirts and opportunities to run from the cops (just kidding- don’t do that). FOMO may be a widespread illness across campus, but in chasing the “college experience”, you might forget to enjoy the things you’re actually doing. Basically, we all need to get over our FOMO. Yes, I understand that we want to make the most of college and do all the crazy things we’ve heard about for the last 18 years, but life is not one non-stop party, regardless of what Instagram says. We, as fellow college students new to adulthood, have to accept that we aren’t a bunch of bionic super humans. No one is the exception- not even your roommate who insists on staying out till 2AM despite her confirmed case of strep. We have to pick and choose what we do, and sometimes that will have to include sleeping, studying, or even, God forbid, doing laundry. So let’s all agree to stop feeling inadequate about not joining that one club or staying in on Saturday to watch The Bachelorette. Get your homework done, take a nap and, just this once, be in bed before midnight.