FOMO - Fear of Missing Out
The anxious feeling that others are having rewarding experiences without you. Amplified by social media, FOMO drives impulsive decisions and chronic dissatisfaction.
Origin
Patrick J. McGinnis coined the term in a May 2004 op-ed, "Social Theory at HBS: McGinnis' Two FOs," in The Harbus, Harvard Business School's student newspaper. McGinnis, who arrived at HBS shortly after September 11, noticed that the anxiety of the era amplified a compulsion to seize every social opportunity. The term spread slowly at first but went mainstream in the early 2010s as social media made other people's experiences perpetually visible.
Everyday Use
Truly a concept that can be experienced every day — FOMO seems to be a particularly modern phenomenon, born out of social media and an always-on-panopticon airbrushing of our experiences so that we feel we are the ones being left at the station. It's helpful to remember that _many _of us can feel like this — and its commonality should provide a little comfort that it's not uniquely us who are missing out. In these moments, I also prefer to remind myself of JOMO — the Joy of Missing Out.