Does the 'fear of missing out' bother you?

Teenagers who heavily use social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, may see images that their peers have posted involving the use of alcohol and drugs. It is common for teenagers of all ages to post photos and videos of them and their friends hanging out or at a party intoxicated. Whether they do this to brag about the fact that they are doing drugs and alcohol before they are legally allowed, or just because they felt that they needed to post this particular kind of image or video at the time.

In saying this, I am not saying that if you are intoxicated DO NOT post photos of you and your friends having a good time, but that there are sensible ways to post photos of a good time. These sites do not need to be flooded with irresponsible, unnecessary pictures of underage drinking and smoking and whatever they may get up to at night.


One teen could be having ‘the best night ever’ and continuously posting photos and statuses about it throughout the night, while one of their peers is at home on a Saturday night scrolling through Instagram and surfing the Facebook news feed thinking to themselves that they also should be out doing that stuff if everyone else in their age group is. This is a form of peer pressure even though the person posting is unaware of this. The poster is not to blame, as we know that the average teenager over thinks every situation. It is just a known fact that teenagers over think, and make drama out of things that just aren’t worth worrying about.

Justin White writes in the Washington Post (July, 2013) about "FOMO-‘fear of missing out’”. He says that it is most common in the ages below 30, and it happens when someone gets anxious about not attending social events that all their peers did like a party the weekend before. Even though this occurs to males and females under 30, I think it is most common in teenagers from the age 13 through to 19 years old, as these are the years when they look deep into situations and conversations more than necessary.

People have always been concerned about their social standing (J. White, 2013) and the new rise in smartphones doesn’t help as all these social networking sites can be easily accessed on their mobile phones, making them even harder to resist.
 

Can you imagine being stuck at home on a Saturday night when all your peers are out socialising and having the night of their lives? (may be not the night of their lives, but this is from an over the top teenage girls point of view)