facebook inflames fomo, the fear of missing out

[bcbm]

http://www.tampabay.com/features/pop...ng-out/1209295

[¿Que?]

Bladdi blah blah technology blah bladdi blah changing our social being blah blah material conditions blah

[bcbm]

yeah why would anyone be interested in that

[28350]

i think this just reflects the alienation already present in capitalism. if anything, it just serves it up in a fancy hyperreal catalog. everyone else on facebook is an object, every user is a voyeur divorced from real activity

[¿Que?]

yeah why would anyone be interested in that

To be honest and not ironic, I actually identify with FOMO, and I guess facebook is a big part of how I deal with those emotions.

[Ele'ill]

I have all of my friend's status updates blocked.

[Veovis]

Facebook is the life support for my terminally ill social life.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

You know, it's a completely normal reaction to be bummed out at the prospect of doing nothing at home while one's friends and acquaintances have a good time elsewhere, but I what I don't understand is the need to pathologise that reaction with quasi-pseudo-medical labels and acronyms.

Now take that, and add in real-time updates and glossy Facebook photos, Twitter notifications, check-ins on Foursquare, Instagram, Tumblr. You can't avoid anyone's social life anymore, unless you lock your devices in a closet and become a neo-Luddite.

Bullshit. There are literally thousands of other websites one could be spending one's time on. Facebook apps can be tweaked to be more discreet, or deleted altogether. You don't need to lock up your device or even avoid the internet to avoid Facebook.

By this article's idiotic logic, one shouldn't drink alcohol if one doesn't want to be upset by the good fortune of one's fellow drinkers down at the pub.

[bcbm]

i was waiting for you to show up

There are Urban Dictionary entries and Facebook pages devoted to FOMO. In 2001, marketing company JWT surveyed more than 1,000 people in 2011 about FOMO. Almost three quarters of young adults said they could relate. The study found "millenials" ages 13 to 33 feel the most left out of all.

sensationalist media is just making it up tho of course

[Red Commissar]

Truth be told this is the first time I've seen that acronym. I had to look up what FOMO meant. I feel like an old guy confused by the internet.

[The Young Pioneer]

lol I hate weddings. The less things people on facebook invite me to, the better.

Also- My gf boycotted facebook, so it's not like I can tag myself "AT SO AND SO'S HOUSE." Most of the time people don't know where I am (nor do they care). Being able to "check-in" and tell your 300 online friends you haven't seen since high school that you're "AT THE PUB" or whatnot is just a way to feel self-important. Really, no one gives two shits, and those that do are already at that pub with you.

[bcbm]

facebook is making us miserable

[#FF0000]

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii don't think facebook or social media are to blame for that tbh. I mean there's so much other stuff going on at the same time.

And the whole FOMO thing is something I absolutely identify with (if my understanding of it is correct), but I think there's things that inflame it more than facebook, definitely. Media is the big one. I'm reminded of a thing Stewart Lee said about television aimed at young adults, where he looked at the show Skins which portrayed teenagers are very saavy, cool, and comfortable with just about everything around them including their sexuality and drugs, whereas back in the 70s there were shows like Children of the Stones or The Changes where the teenagers are all really alienated and alone.

And I think things like that, where young people are bombarded with completely unrealistic portrayals of teenage life that don't even acknowledge the alienation and loneliness of adolescence, are way more harmful than Facebook.

So, I don't think it's fair or correct to say "facebook is making us miserable". We're more miserable than ever, but it's not because of facebook. Even if facebook is conducive to it (I don't necessarily believe that's true -- the "den of competition" idea doesn't hold much water for me) the actual problem is much, much bigger.

[Ocean Seal]

Has anyone thought that the person who was being interviewed was really dumb. I mean she didn't by any reason need to invite all those people to her wedding. In fact I would only be disappointed if I weren't invited to the weddings of my closest friends. About ~90-95% of my facebook friends I couldn't give a shit who they invite.

[Rafiq]

I do remember the overall internet experience to be better without fucking Shartbook.

Facebook sucks.

[Decolonize The Left]

The problem with Facebook is that it is not used as a tool (which it is, like wiki) but seen as an end. People get on Facebook not to do something but just because.

So what we see is the progressive banalization of everyday life through the use of a social network. For example, you meet someone at a party and friend them. But you aren't friends - you don't actually know them. Then when your bday comes around you get a bunch of facebook messages but no one actually comes to see you and you feel alone (or left out). But you aren't left out because there's nothing to be in because the whole 'social network' doesn't actually exist until it is brought into existence through actual action.

- August

[Fawkes]

FOMO is a monthly dance party here, I was really confused at first as to why someone would post about that in S&E.

Anyway, what #FF said is spot on. Facebook may exacerbate things, but it's not responsible for the alienation most individuals feel within society. We live in a world that breeds isolation and stresses individualism, it's simply an effect of that.

[¿Que?]

The problem with Facebook is that it is not used as a tool (which it is, like wiki) but seen as an end. People get on Facebook not to do something but just because.

So what we see is the progressive banalization of everyday life through the use of a social network. For example, you meet someone at a party and friend them. But you aren't friends - you don't actually know them. Then when your bday comes around you get a bunch of facebook messages but no one actually comes to see you and you feel alone (or left out). But you aren't left out because there's nothing to be in because the whole 'social network' doesn't actually exist until it is brought into existence through actual action.

- August

I basically disagree with this whole line and feel it is idealist and not materialist as we should be. First of all, people are doing something when they are on facebook and they do use it as a tool for socializing, albeit mediated through technology. The fact of "banalization" is entirely subjective as there can be no objective yardstick through which to measure banality. To some banality is discussing politics and revolutionary activism, while to others, banality is seen as talking shit to your friends on facebook. It's all up to the individual.

The fact that you may not know a lot of the people you're friends with on facebook is not entirely negative. You may get to know them through their updates, although again, mediated through technology. Similarly, the Happy Birthdays you receive on facebook are one's you'd not normally have gotten. It doesn't signify true concern by those people, since they aren't even there in person for you, but it's like we used to do back in the day. Didn't want to go to a Birthday party you've been invited to? Send them a present or a card and apologize whilst making an excuse. The social significance is almost identical, while the means of achieving said significance have changed dramatically.

The "social network" indeed exists, although obviously not without action. But what I'm saying is that getting on facebook is itself the actual action necessary to bring the social network into existence. The fact that you signed up in and of itself brings you in so to speak. What significance that has may not be much, but I think it is entirely too idealist to think the means of achieving the significance doesn't also affect it.

So what I see is that we have a contradiction. In certain cases, social significance can be equated to pre-facebook social forms whereas at the same time, facebook shapes that social significance because it, as technology, is considered something with use value, and a means towards things like leisure and socialization. The contradiction is resolved by acknowledging that technology takes place of previous technology to achieve the same social significances as well as other newer forms of social significance.

[Ele'ill]

The fact that you may not know a lot of the people you're friends with on facebook is not entirely negative. You may get to know them through their updates,

This sounds so pathetic. You will never know someone by reading status updates on some social networking site. The vast majority of people here on the forum and on facebook (who you may have only met once for five minutes) are much different than you think.

although again, mediated through technology.

Not mediated, filtered.

Similarly, the Happy Birthdays you receive on facebook are one's you'd not normally have gotten. It doesn't signify true concern by those people, since they aren't even there in person for you, but it's like we used to do back in the day. Didn't want to go to a Birthday party you've been invited to? Send them a present or a card and apologize whilst making an excuse. The social significance is almost identical, while the means of achieving said significance have changed dramatically.

Not really because back in the day I wouldn't have a list of 9999999999999 people I've met for five minutes who I consider my best friends- who I intimately have grown to know through status updates like 'my cat just pooped' and 'so drunk rite now'

So what I see is that we have a contradiction. In certain cases, social significance can be equated to pre-facebook social forms whereas at the same time, facebook shapes that social significance because it, as technology, is considered something with use value, and a means towards things like leisure and socialization. The contradiction is resolved by acknowledging that technology takes place of previous technology to achieve the same social significances as well as other newer forms of social significance.

What?

[Quail]

Facebook gives a distorted view of what people's lives are like. I only take photos and put them on there when I'm doing something fun or my son's doing something cute, or whatever. I only update my status to tell people that I'm doing something interesting or sometimes I post a status about something simple and funny when I'm actually having an awful time. Most of my life is spent doing mundane stuff or suffering with my mental health issues, but from my facebook profile you'd think I was constantly having a whale of a time.

I'm guess pretty much everyone does the same as me, so what you get is a newsfeed that makes it look as though everyone else is having a fantastic time all the time. If you're already feeling lonely or whatever, then it's easy to see how that could feed into your negative frame of mind. I've looked at my newsfeed and felt like a lonely loser with no friends, but if I'm being rational then I know that's not really true, and if I'm feeling secure in my friendships and relationships, I don't care that everyone else looks like they're having fun without me because I know that I have fun and good friends too.