Fear of missing out
In today’s world, if we take a look at a day in an ordinary youngster’s life, there will be many different activities and aspects to it. But what will be constant is the person’s dependency on gadgets — more specifically cell phones, tablets and computers.
Can you imagine you or your close friends not being in touch with you through phone or Facebook/Twitter for more than a day? Not a chance, because you fear you’ll miss out on news (which is often not that important but you consider them so) from your Inbox, Facebook newsfeed or Twitterstream. Advancement in technology now lets us to stay more connected than ever, but that in turn is only causing the addiction to grow.
Mostly an addiction for many these days, social media has become a slippery slope consumed by a syndrome commonly referred to as Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). A new survey conducted by MyLife.com website reveals that almost one in two persons — 56% to be precise — are afraid of missing out on news, events, photos and important status updates if they are away from social networks for too long.
The survey even found out that about 51 per cent of people visit or log on more frequently to social networks than they did just two years ago. People are also managing more social networking accounts as well — about 42 per cent accepted to having multiple accounts — and the percentage jumps to 61 per cent for those between the ages of 18 and 34.
The addiction is so high that many stated they would gladly trade other addictions to stay connected — about 26 per cent percent said they would trade habits such as smoking cigarettes or reality TV for access to social networking sites.
With all the social connectedness, there does come a moment when all of us just want to quit all social media and take a break. The survey found that 52 per cent of respondents said they have considered taking a ‘vacation’ from one or more social networks. Unfortunately, only 24 per cent said they are likely follow through. Now doesn’t that sound just like each one of us!
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