How FOMO Affects Me
There are 168 hours in a week and for some reason that doesn’t seem like enough. With two part time jobs, a full course load, and several extra curricular activities, it seems hard to balance everything and still stay in constant contact with my friends. Trying to find the perfect balance of work and play has definitely impacted my mental health as a university student.
I commuted for 3 out of 4 of my years at Ryerson, which impacted the way I interacted with my friends back home and my friends at school. Initially, I used to run home after school and hang out with my high school friends. Then I realized that we were all in different stages of our lives and we quickly grew apart. This was hard because it was me growing away from the rest of the group so when I would see them post Snapchats and Instagram posts together, it impacted me negatively. I felt like I had made a mistake stepping away from that group of friends. It made me question why we stopped hanging out in the first place, making me think that I had done something wrong. The constant posts put me in such a bad place, and it affected the way I let others into my life afterward.
When I finally found my place at Ryerson where I was able to make a new group of friends, we hung out nonstop and organized our lives to study in the same spaces and see each other at every break we had. This worked out for us so well last year, where we were in the same student groups, working on similar projects, and had common interests to pursue together. I love this group of friends, but I would still feel a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) because my old friends were still having the best time together and I felt the pressure to post anything and everything I could with my new friends to make them feel like they were missing out by not having me in their lives. This stressed me out so much to the point of me constantly checking to see if they would like my new Instagram post or panicking when they would watch my Snapchat. This was so unhealthy for me, and it had to stop. Thankfully my new friends were a great support system and helped me remove this negative energy from my life by removing them from my social media and not worrying about what my old friends were doing and focused on the good times I was having with my new friends.
Although, this year led to more changes for me. I got a new job, which has kept me from spending time with my friends. I found a place on campus where I felt like I truly belonged and I made it a point to spend as much of my time as I could in an environment that I felt the most comfortable. In this environment, I managed to make another great group of friends who I have spent most of my time with since the beginning of this school year. As much I love spending time with my work friends, the feeling of missing out still negatively impacts the way I use social media. My life changed this year with the new job in my final year of school, but my friend group from last year didn’t really change so when I see them post Snapchats together, I get really sad that I’m missing out on opportunities to be with them.
It’s frustrating to feel like I’m missing out on something and not enjoying the moment I am in. I’ve felt highs and lows because of my obsession to see what my friends are up to on social media. Bailey mentioned how people only post their highlights on social media, and that we compare them to our lows. Unfortunately, I do this far too often and I need to curb this habit.
