FOMO and the art of living!

Do you remember a time before Facebook or Instagram? No one was 'live' streaming their holidays or dinners and no one was posting 'stories' of shoes and food. People just ate dinners or went on holidays and bought shoes like they were part of their everyday life. But now every holiday, dinner and shopping trip is recorded, somewhat permanently online. And everyone is trying to one-up the next person, be it in 'who's the happiest' to 'who's the unhappiest?'

What is so engaging about seeing Susie live stream the burger she's about to have for lunch? It's just a burger right? Wrong! It's a lifestyle and it's THE lifestyle that some people crave and watching Susie live that life somehow helps them live it vicariously through her. It's true, even if you look at my own Instagram which has about 500 odd photos of the places I've seen and the things that interest me, you'll see that according to me, 'travel' or 'literature' is supposed to be a lifestyle. Why? Am I trying to make someone else feel inadequate about their own lives? Not really, because that would just be cruel and a little idiotic. Am I trying to feel good about my own life? Maybe. Do I just like taking pretty pictures? Definitely!

But there's a fraction of people online who post photos or comments simply to make someone else feel that there's a void in their life and that they need to instil in them a fear of missing out or FOMO as it's more popularly known. There's more competition amongst Instagram profiles than between CEOs in a boardroom these days. The constant need to 'be better than him/her' has made us forget the importance of the now and here.

We're posting beautiful photos and hash tagging and live streaming everything we say or do, but are we truly enjoying ourselves? We're seeing everything through the 4.7 inch screens on our iPhones instead of looking up and enjoying that view for what it truly is. I have trouble not taking photos if I'm in a beautiful place. I do that because I know I'll probably never see this place again and then there's the bonus of getting that pretty picture in. But sometimes I get so caught up in looking at that view through the camera on my phone that I forget to enjoy that view. So this time when I went travelling, I decided that I will divide my time equally between looking through my phone camera and looking at things the way I should - with my eyes! I still have a ways to go, but it's a definite improvement from the time I forgot to enjoy a sunset because I was too busy trying to get the right angle to shoot it from my phone!

Our lives have become more or less like some sort of reality show and we're constantly aware of the need to create drama for the sake of increased viewership.At the end of the day we're actually missing out on living our lives because we're doing everything we can to stop feeling the FOMO. It's a twisted, vicious cycle that will never stop turning unless we decide to stop the comparison and just live our own lives without trying to compete with that friend who's always bragging about how great his/her life is.

So if you're reading this, promise yourself that you'll unplug for at least 30 minutes a day and try to enjoy an activity without feeling the need to broadcast it to the world. Go for that run without 'tweeting' about it or go for that lunch date without 'instagramming' it and see how you feel about just being there and enjoying the moment for what it truly is.

Here's wishing you a wonderful week without any FOMO!

#FOMO #SocialMedia #Life #Motivation