Quarantine FOMO? How Are We Managing?

Over the days, newspapers and social platforms have been carrying one article on mental instability at least, more essentially talking and highlighting about how people are breaking down and becoming emotionally vulnerable to the circumstances. Friends and acquaintances have shown similar concerns, and expressed their vulnerability. Some expressed in a candid conversation that they can’t put up with the quarantine FOMO any longer.

‘FOMO’ or the Fear of Missing Out is a loosely coined term by the millennials, that usually has a cascading effect, and is contagious. Some symptoms of advances FOMO include - hypertension (could be due to the fact that the neighbour was carrying a clutch that looked quite ornate), insomnia (wondering where she got it from), and even high BP (not in all cases though). 

Another major contributor to this uncanny FOMO syndrome is the follower count on Instagram. The number of followers you have on Instagram vis a vis the number of followers that your competitors have, literally are a major reason for insomnia. There are chances that your FOMO rises even more, when you don't know what your competitor is up to. Well, definitely he must be uploading a lot of things in social media but it's not necessary that you would get to have a bird's eye view of what he is up to. FOMO is intensified again.  

Thoughts like 'what is Mr X doing, who is Miss Y chatting with, what app is she using for video conferencing, especially at a time when 'Zoom has gotten itself into major controversies. Is she relying on House Party instead? Didn't that get into the news for wrong reasons?' are common spectacles.

Definitely this is a major reason for FOMO to mushroom but fact of the matter is, with FOMO more often than not people tend to tire themselves, and end up scratching their heads for no reason. As mentioned before this gives them sleepless nights and hypertension again! 

The question here is why is the mind embedded with a lot of thoughts that's concerning other people? How is it of perennial importance? Now in this quarantine phase, the dosage has become higher than usual, where the mind is diverting from one end to the other. This a major concern. As at the end of the day, it compromises on your mental well being. Just so things don't get too clogged up, there is this other section of people who feel ecstatic to be out of this squad. They have JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). 

It's understandable if you are a business tycoon where you have to know about how the other business rivals are faring. Yet, if you are not one, then why bother? JOMO makes you much more independent, unaccountable for the things that you have no part in, and lets you have a peaceful sleep. Now that quarantine has given you an opportunity to relax, why not use this time to be self emerged and submerged in yourself, and probably try to ponder over your neighbour's clutch?

Better introspect yourself and answer as to which side is heavier? FOMO or JOMO?