(This is my take on the aforementioned essay topic)
FOMO, the latest slang/abbreviation is an apt description defining the lifestyle choices of millennials, Gen Z and Gen X today. This is where the biggest irony lies. In the hunger that is fed by the ‘fear of missing out’, people spend time, money and energy on transient things , building a social image so fragile and effervescent in essence , they end up hanging by a string and falling further into depression and loneliness.
This indeed is one of the greatest psychological negative effects of the fragile reputation based lifestyle led through a web of social media platforms. FOMO is defined by Oxford Dictionary as ‘anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media.’ Around 2004, Dan Herman introduced the term FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to describe the growing trend of consumers frequently changing brands.
We live in a world of instant gratification that acts as a dopamine shot, reinvigorating our senses for a brief period of time. Hence, the smooth transition from acronyms FOMO (fear of missing out) to YOLO (you only live once ) giving a tacit approval to this need to buy things that are economically sustainable, taking pictures on luxurious trips and posting them on social media for likes and followers. One ends up with a digital community of so called ‘faceless friends ‘ who aren’t there to accompany in one’s real physical environment. This leads to loneliness, causing anxiety, and leading to that given individual standing on precise, waiting to fall into an abyss off depression, with no one to pull that person back since the digital society of friends surrounding that person is virtual. This virtual reality while replacing the real physical world interactions, unfortunately isn’t there to help , aid and assist , provide real warmth of relationships.
There is an insane psychological pressure that is being exerted on people who are hyper-connected through social media platforms. The need to emulate the lifestyle as seen on these social networks is exerting tremendous pressure on the people. Day after day, fast changing trends are creating massive phenomenon of ‘fear of missing out ‘. FOMO isn’t just an urban dictionary acronym. It has real world consequences, quite often depressing and deadly.
Slowly , that FOMO turns into far deadlier JOMO (joy of missing out) . This becomes a problem as fear and.joy work in tangent to create a nexus where instant gratification to live that lifestyle, however unsustainable it is, need for social media digital recognition in the virtual world has created a web of lies, pretension, debt crisis, loneliness , anxiety and depression.
Let us dive deeper into economic, social and psychological ramifications of instant gratification, conspicuous consumption, social media multi- platforms recognition, approval ,and acceptance.
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a potent psychological force that evokes anxiety when individuals perceive that others are enjoying experiences or possessions they themselves lack. This feeling is particularly pronounced among Millennials and Gen Z, who are deeply integrated into social media ecosystems where the highlights of others’ lives are constantly on display. Even Gen X, though they did not grow up with smartphones in hand, often experience similar pressures through platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The phenomenon of social comparison plays a crucial role here; seeing friends or acquaintances flaunt their travels, latest tech gadgets, or fashionable attire generates a sense of inferiority and an urge to bridge the perceived gap. People naturally tie their sense of identity and social standing to the brands they wear, the places they frequent, and the experiences they broadcast online—leading to an ongoing desire to match or exceed the status symbols showcased by their peers. This is further fueled by the brain’s reward system, where dopamine is released in response to likes, shares, and comments, creating a feedback loop that reinforces the need to share and, by extension, consume. The constant exposure to these carefully curated images and moments keeps the cycle of comparison and consumption alive, ensuring that the feeling of missing out—and the compulsion to buy—remains ever-present.
Socially, there is the unsustainable need to be recognized by digital social groups , vying for their acceptance and approval through increased number of views, likes, subscriptions and followers. What ends up happening is that an digitally hyper-connected individual’ s life revolves around creating an online identity which is unsustainable ,temporary and transient. How is this online identity creation and sustained , albeit temporary and fragile? This is achieved through insane spending of money and energy.
This brings us to the next point which the manner in which social media recognition and economic spending are deeply integrated and intertwined. People fall into this insane web of FOMO capitalized by retail giants and luxury brands that has led to need to buy these luxury goods on order to maintain this image and not miss out trends that keep on changing season after season . The end result is credit card spending and loans have led to the malaise of debt management crisis.
A natural corollary of this intricate web woven by FOMO (fear of missing out) is debt crisis,loss of social standing in real world with no help from digital faceless community of the virtual world, loss of real world interactions and real life lessons . Thus, fear of missing out on yhe latest trends and lifestyle, conspicuous consumption to achieve this lifestyle, digital recognition and virtuel world adoration leads to the final hit that comes in form of anxiety and depression.
There need to be overhaul in the manner the society today is operating in the environment of hyper-connected individuals on social media platforms. There needs to be an emphasis on the need to put precedence over mental health . In terms of policy making, the governments around the world need to take stricter actions against the social media platforms with respect to access by minors and protection of privacy.
Simplified Learning UPSC by Tanu 
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