00:04Attention everybody, I'm so happy to be celebrating my birthday with 200 of my best friends.
00:10Decision fatigue with all of these goddamn filters.
00:13And don't forget to use the hashtag if you're posting tonight.
00:16Hashtag never leave your house.
00:20It's hashtag all your friends are here.
00:22God, I look beautiful.
00:30Okay, this can go one of two ways. I can hope that Jackie has a really fun and safe night,
00:35or I could descend into the dark pit that is FOMO.
00:39FOMO, the acronym as we know it, was on Oxford Dictionaries Online in 2013, but it first appeared on Urban
00:46Dictionary in 2006.
00:49Of course the concept of FOMO dates back before the early 2000s, but since today's society has even more channels
00:55to foster the fear, FOMO is more relevant than ever.
00:58In 1954, social psychologist Leon Festinger came up with a social comparison theory stating that people define their worth in
01:07comparison to their peers.
01:10Come on. 56% of social media users suffer from FOMO.
01:15But that doesn't mean that social media causes FOMO. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
01:19In 2013, a series of studies found that FOMO actually drives users to Facebook, not the other way around.
01:27Oh!
01:29Social media is an easy way to feel connected to others.
01:33So those who are predisposed to meeting that connection, or those who are prone to FOMO, check Facebook more often
01:40than others who aren't.
01:42So basically all that technology has done is given us the means to perpetuate this fear.
01:47Of course there are times when we check social media and we feel more disconnected than ever.
01:52We might use technology to cope with our loneliness, but it doesn't address the source of the loneliness, or the
01:58FOMO.
01:59The cause of FOMO is usually the struggle to answer the eternal question.
02:03Am I significant?
02:05Am I worth loving?
02:06Me too!
02:07Am I loved?
02:15In a TED Talk, student Bobby Mook explained the three things that FOMO prevents us from doing.
02:22First, you know, it prevents us from connecting with the people that we're with because it makes us feel like
02:29we could be doing something better.
02:30Shh, stop talking. Annie's having her birthday party tonight too. Why aren't we there?
02:35Second, it stops us from being in the moment.
02:39And third, we prioritize things that we think might be the most fun, but we overcommit ourselves and we're never
02:45gonna achieve our goals because we just have way too much to do.
02:49Ooh, hey, can you take a picture of us? But in a way that'll make other people wish they were
02:53here?
02:54Okay.
02:57When it seems our peers are out having more fun, making more friends, and accomplishing more, while we stay in,
03:04binge on TV, and make weird nachos, it's easy to feel like you're missing out.
03:08And you have to remember that when you look at someone's profile, you're seeing the highlight reel of their personal
03:14movie, not the behind-the-scenes footage.
03:17If Facebook and other social media networks are bumming you out, limit your intake and remind yourself.
03:23I'm having a great time!
03:25And staying in isn't inherently bad.
03:28So, like, I read this Huffington Post article and it was like, don't ask how to overcome the FOMO, but,
03:37like, what's the fear trying to tell us?
03:40Perhaps it's telling us to live in the now.
03:44Forget your past mistakes!
03:46You just, yeah, take a break, take a break!
03:49Diversify your life by making real memories instead of obsessing over what you could or should be doing.
03:55When you feel the FOMO set in, ask yourself, is this really something you want to be doing?
04:01I very much want to keep eating cheese in my pajamas tonight.
04:06It's unlikely you'll wake up one day and the FOMO will be gone, but it's possible to spin the side
04:11effects in a positive direction.
04:14Excuse me.
04:15Try to channel that FOMO.
04:16Love and live more.
04:18Be in the present.
04:19Because when you worry about missing out, you truly do miss out.
04:22Dr. Normandy Rosenthal told the New York Times that one way to avoid excessive comparison to others is by spending
04:29time with people that you have an authentic connection with.
04:35Huge rangers may look like a lot of fun, but look at me! Look at all the fun I can
04:39have here!
04:41And wanting to go out is just as fine. Just do the things that you want to do, without any
04:47pressure to do it all.
04:50I love this episode.
04:52Don't forget to subscribe will be my support for also.
04:57Cameraman WWW.
