Fear of Missing Out

Fear of Missing Out

So what is FOMO? The Fear of Missing Out, of course. It’s not a new fear. It used to be called “Keeping Up with the Jones”. Now with social media everywhere, the Jones are not just your neighbors but literally anyone on the planet. It was renamed by the author in 2004. Here is the explanation in the author’s own words.

“Just as Homo sapiens displaced Homo erectus, modern humankind is itself giving way to a new species: FOMO sapiens. <…> In its natural habitat, FOMO sapiens can be observed yearning for all of the things, either real or imagined, that could make life perfect, if only it could have them or do them at this very moment.”

I wish there was less time spent explaining both FOMO and FOBO (fear of a better option). Please, just cut to the cure. Plus I’m not totally sold on the whole FOBO phenomena idea. It seems pretty un-fetch to me (pointless Clueless movie reference).

Fear of Missing Out is a real issue for probably millions of Americans. I agree with the book that the first step is realizing you have a problem. The goal is to be decisive and never look back. I think the book describes a sound plan to get from one to the other. But I didn’t need fully half of the book to define the two terms. 3 stars.

Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

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