There's a disorder that everyone catches, but not everyone's is the same. Some people have it bad, while others don't even know it exists. It's something you never want to catch, but can often be unavoidable. This deadly catch is FOMO.
Fomo is the "fear of missing out." It's an awful disorder and it can make your life a living hell, but only if you let it and only if you have an extreme case. There are many different levels of fomo. There's normal fomo, mild fomo, and extreme fomo.
Normal fomo is well, normal.
Everyone sometimes feels upset for being left out or not being included in something everyone else is in on. This case of fomo is common in college. We all have to study, but we all want to go out. We all have financial struggles, but we all want sushi for every meal. We all have obligations, but we all want to go to date party. It happens. Life happens. We fulfill our duties and sometimes miss out on times with friends, and that makes us sad. Who wants to do homework when their friends are going to a crawfish boil? No one. We want to be where the action is whenever we can, but that can't always be possible and that's natural. And then along comes the second case of fomo.
Mild fomo.
This is the case of fomo that is less often seen but many people are still guilty of. This case of fomo includes not being able to go out with your friends one night, but texting them the whole time about how much you wish you were there. There are really many cases of mild fomo, but I think the difference between normal fomo and mild fomo is the complaints that follow and the severity of what you're actually missing.
Being upset over something small like going to dinner with friends vs. going to a date party with your whole chapter is where the line is drawn between normal fomo and mild fomo. But in addition to that, it also has to do with how you react to the situation. If you constantly remind everyone around you that you didn't get to go to our formal this year, you quickly go from normal fomo to mild, it's as if no one is allowed to have a good time if you aren't present and god forbid you say that you had fun without them.
Now onto the worst case.
Extreme fomo.
We a have at least one (or three) friends with extreme fomo. They can't do anything alone. They can't even sit in one room while their friends are in another room. They are so afraid to miss out on things that their plans for the day are based around what everyone else is doing. We all have these friends. They know about it, we know about it, everyone knows about their fear of missing out. We love 'em anyway, but let's face it, this fear causes many arguments. These people are so extreme that if you said you had to go kneel on hot coals for an hour, they would still come because you never know how much fun you might have. You can't even tell a story without them in the room because they get so nervous about not hearing every detail of the story. Maybe they have neglect issues or maybe they just always want to feel included, either way, it's a disorder.
No matter the level, this disease is frustrating and it's hard to deal with for an impatient, careless person like me, but I think we can all admit we've experienced fomo before. And, I know we can all admit to having a friend with fomo. I would say be kind to them and be thoughtful, but I'm not going to give you advice I'd never use. So instead, just don't be that person. Have less fomo, people.
