What is JOMO and how do you incorporate it into your everyday life?

It may seem that nowadays our whole life has been moved to the Internet. The coronavirus pandemic had a significant impact on this, limiting our activities outside the home. This is how JOMO, or Joy of Missing Out, was created – a syndrome of conscious resignation from using the Internet

It started with FOMO…

FOMO is a syndrome standing completely on the other side of the barricade discussed JOMO. FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out is the fear of not checking social networks. FOMO sufferers feel the pressure to compulsively connect to the internet and keep up with the latest news online. They never part with their smartphone and use every spare moment to scroll Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

How do you recognize FOMO?

• Do you carry your cell phone around with you when you’re having family dinner, playing with your kids, or meeting up with friends, and you refresh your social media apps every now and then to stay up to date?
• Do you regularly post pictures online of what you are doing, what you are eating, who you are with, and where?
• Do you feel anxious if you don’t have a device connected to the internet with you or if you don’t have coverage? Do you feel hungry for information as it appears on social media?

If you answered yes to the above questions, then you most likely may have FOMO. The above survey was prepared by the Polish Ministry of Digitalisation to help citizens fight Internet and social network addiction

…until JOMO came

More and more people started to disagree with this state of affairs and decided to look for a balanced way to live in the world of social media. JOMO followers are voluntarily giving up staying up to date with all the news from the social media world. They do this in favor of spending time with loved ones, pursuing their passions or simply relaxing.

They learn that being offline can be just as fun and that it’s not necessary to be up to date with every move of our friends or favorite celebrities. Sounds beautiful, just how do we put it into practice?

Where to start practicing JOMO?

The Ministry of Digitization has prepared a short recipe to fight the addiction to the phone and social networking applications. Implementing the steps below may take some time – but don’t rush yourself too much and give your psyche time to adjust to the new reality. Every case of FOMO is different and if the addiction is at a very advanced stage, you should seek help from a professional.

1. The fight against FOMO should begin by thinking about what really scares us about even a temporary disconnection from the internet. As we’ve seen more than once, nothing is lost online, and checking social media only once a day won’t make us stop keeping up to date with our friends’ lives. If we clearly identify the cause of our anxiety, after some time it may seem completely trivial and it will be easier to eliminate it
2. Let’s pay attention to such information on the Internet, which are actually relevant to us. Internet portals are full of fake news and flashy headlines that do not bring anything sensible into our lives. Paying attention to them only takes up valuable time that could be spent on things that grow us.
3. Start with healthy habits. Stop taking your phone on walks, leave it in your purse when socializing, don’t scroll through social media before going to sleep. These small changes will help you slowly wean yourself from constantly looking at your phone
4. Set a schedule for your day. Choose the most important things from it, plan how much time to spend on each task. a “busy schedule” will help you effectively get rid of the moments when you reach for your phone out of boredom
5. Focus on one thing. Don’t do several things at once. This way you will learn to focus your attention on the task at hand and you won’t need external stimuli.