FOMO, FOLO, FODO -- Modern Pressures: Modern Problems

The 21st century, like each of the centuries before it, has bestowed people new fears and concerns that are tied to its unique advancements in technology, community threats, environmental dangers, politics, etc. These new fears have received relatively little study. These new fears have the potential to affect human psychological functioning. Nevertheless, they have caught quite much of an attention of the media and think tanks. But in terms of measurements against these threats and fears, the authorities of the related dimension should work in co-operation with the authorities of several countries to restrict the effects of these threats and problems. Such fears or threats are cyber fear, crime phobia, terror of terrorism, political manipulation, economic collapse (in rise of Covid-like situations), earthquakes, civilian exodus from the conflict zones around the world. These all threats are physical in nature. But three are mental in nature called fear of missing out (FOMO), fear of losing out (FOLO), and fear of dying out due to climate change (FODO). These FOMO, FOLO, and FODO have become our recent new major concerns.

We are living in the ever-present threats of revolution, nuclear war, worldwide pandemics. Everyone has an innate fear of death, but the fear of the unknown is worse than anything. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is the fear where someone believes that other people are living better than them, they are leading very satisfying lives, having more fun, and what they are enjoying is being missed out by that person. FOMO is an emotional response, that was introduced in 2004 as a phenomenon observed on social networking sites. It includes the perception of missing out, followed by a compulsive behavior to maintain social connections. The opposite of FOMO is JOMO, which is Joy of Missing Out. This manifest enjoying offline time celebrating life and real-life events in wholistic manner while avoiding all mental chatter caused by FOMO.

FOLO--fear of losing out, or fear of living offline is relatively new type of fear where people are increasingly feeling devalued and uncomfortable when they are offline and are not continuously connected with friends, peers in the virtual world. They battle to live in the real world for not having much time in hands to relish it. When someone suffers from it, he or she thinks that all their experiences must be validated or stamped by social media sites, or else there is no point in living. They feel as if an event did not happen if it did not take place in cyberspace. It is also mentioned as FONK the fear of not knowing, is also called Agnosiophobia. It instigates us to be connected to the world to be aware of what is happening every minute of the day. If they don’t know what is going on, FONK suffers become anxious, stressful and sweaty.

FODO—fear of dying out due to climate change is affecting humans around the world. It is so overwhelming that it can make us feel helpless, weak and unable to focus our energies on positive and useful behaviors.

What is the solution of all the above problems? The answer is, we have no mental or physical power to control the threats that are physical in nature. But we can make our lives easier by controlling our mind-generated fears. I will share my story with you as an example. It was 2014 when me and my mother were watching a drama and suddenly a thought was sparked in my mind by a scene in that drama. The scene was about daughter-in-law who was planning on ruining her sister-in-law’s life by doing mischievous activities. I have a brother so I became alarmed by the scene while the fact was--- my brother was un-married. The thought that came in my head was, the drama was creating prejudice (preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual events) in us. The one who watched the drama will consider all sister-in-law’s and daughter-in-law’s as bad women. Ultimately the society is ruined. I felt that my moral development was crumbling due to watching such sickly dramas. So, I stopped. Literally. Today, while I’s writing, the date is 7th May 2023, 9:30 p.m. and believe me, since that scene I have never watched any Tv drama, and yes, my mother too. We can control our own-generated fears. It is true. Change your life towards positive dimension, it will breed positive mind and environment that can be a real gift for next generations. Stay blessed and share this article with your loved ones.