Research suggests that fear of missing out can stem from unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life, and these feelings can drive us to use social media more.
The problem is that using social media more often can make us feel worse about ourselves and our lives, not better.
It’s helpful to understand that our attempts to alleviate FOMO often result in behaviors that exacerbate it. However, understanding the problem can be the first step to overcoming it. The following may help.
Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, try focusing on what you do have. This is easier said than done on social media, where we can be bombarded with pictures of things we don’t have, but it can be done. Add more positive people to your feed; hide those who are too burkina faso leads boastful or unsupportive.
You can change your feed to show less content that triggers FOMO and more content that makes you feel good about yourself. Work on identifying content that might be sapping your happiness online. Work on reducing that content while adding more content in your feed (and life) that makes you happy.
If you have a young teen at home and you're just starting to introduce them to social media, it's really important as a parent to set those limits for your child, because sometimes it's hard for kids to recognize these triggers in themselves.
Try a digital detox
Spending too much time on your phone or social media apps can increase FOMO. Reducing your usage or even doing a digital detox, where you step away from digital devices, may help you focus more on your life without the constant comparisons.
If you can’t completely quit your digital addiction, consider limiting your use of certain social media apps that make you feel like you’re missing out. If you can’t completely detox, consider reserving it for the weekends so it doesn’t interfere with your work, or setting time limits on your smartphone so that you can only access certain apps for a limited time in a 24-hour period. Or, put some pressure on yourself and distance yourself from people who make you feel down about yourself or your life.