The most dangerous disease facing young people ages 18-22, aside from COVID-19, alcoholism and seed oil consumption, is FOMO, or fear of missing out.
FOMO is commonly regarded as an uncontrollable, external influence, something that suddenly strikes you against your will, forcing you into a bout of fear on account of your not having the same experience as someone else. Many times, I have heard someone remark that they have “really bad FOMO,” as if it were a chronic disease. Many times, I have seen someone do something against their good judgment because of FOMO. Almost always, these instances arise in the context of going to the bars or club.
In a combination of analysis and hypotheticals, I will systematically explain why FOMO is stupid. This article is intended for those who suffer from such a disease, and though I cannot offer financial compensation, I can offer my unsolicited opinion.
Firstly, it is necessary to break FOMO down into its core components. It must be repeated that FOMO almost always occurs because of a missed social opportunity, one that often includes drinking alcohol. The contrast between the missed social opportunity — drinking with friends — and the current situation — probably doing homework alone — is striking. It is unknown if the catalyst for FOMO is the drinking aspect, or the spending time with friends or both.
If one were to have FOMO without there being a social component, that is, the prospect of drinking alone, I would direct you to St. Liam’s Hall for counseling. If FOMO were to occur from just not being in contact with friends in conversation, then this seems a bit more plausible but still unusual. It would seem like the social aspect, with the inclusion of friends, makes FOMO all the more present and powerful.
I can acquit the desire to spend time with friends. That is a good and necessary thing. However, I wish to examine the social setting in which you want to spend time with friends.
It is known that the event or setting that often causes FOMO is drinking. What are other occasions that could cause FOMO? Volunteering at a soup kitchen? No. Going to your dorm’s boring town hall meeting? Doubt it, unless there are free Insomnia cookies. Going to Sunday Mass? Maybe, but probably not.
What we are left with is this desire to go drinking with friends, of course. It is admittedly mysterious how such an activity and setting can so easily cause mental disturbance and drive someone from their study desk? I concede that studying alone is not the most glamorous activity, nor is it an activity enjoyed by the masses, but I do offer a theory for why FOMO exists in this way.
It is probable that FOMO exists because we have a poor relationship with both the hypothetical current activity — doing school work — and the missed opportunity — drinking. We place both activities at the extremes, where we abhor spending time studying in silence and solitude, and adore drinking.
This creates an intense conflict in one’s mind, leading them to say nonsensical phrases like “Part of me wants to do X, but the other wants to do Y.” FOMO is a marked sign of lack of conviction. Ideally, a person would invariably prefer to study during the week rather than drink and do so with the utmost resolve. However, I argue that it would be equally noble, in a way, for someone to be drinking during the week and still do so with the utmost resolve. I applaud those with strong convictions even if I disagree with their actions.
FOMO is stupid because it can easily be resolved by making a decision. FOMO is a symptom of a half-hearted decision to do one thing and another half-hearted desire to do another thing. It would be better to make a decision in a timely manner to do something, even though it leads to a suboptimal outcome, rather than complaining about suffering from some mystical ghost of FOMO, and being paralyzed in your decision-making process.
Notre Dame students are prime victims for FOMO because we often live unbalanced lives, ones that try to harmonize two extremes. Our official motto is “Vita, Dulcedo, Spes,” but our unofficial motto is “Work hard, play hard.” We have FOMO because part of us wants to do one thing whereas the other part wants to do another. We are neither hot nor cold, but strikingly lukewarm. Persistently, we will continue to serve two masters, but blame FOMO as the cause for our recurring distress.
Jonah Tran is a junior at Notre Dame studying finance and classics. He prides himself on sarcasm and never surrendering. You can file complaints to Jonah by email at jtran5@nd.edu.
