Ah, FOMO. The silly, sing–song sound of the word is almost as ridiculous as the fact that it’s a legitimate emotion we feel, like, all the time. Otherwise known as “Fear of Missing Out," FOMO comes in many forms. It's that inexplicable pang of anxiety you experience when your friends are ripping shots in the living room, and you’re trying to bullshit a paper due that night. It’s that feeling of tender heartbreak when you miss one weekend at school, and someone tells you about some epic night he or she had. It’s even when you actually go to Pool Party, Owl's Brunch, etc. but see Facebook pictures later of people who don’t just look like they had fun, but that they fucking killed it.
More and more, we fall prey to the idea that we need to be living our college years to the fullest or else we're just doing it wrong. Oh, and also don't forget to maintain good grades and ample extracurriculars, because we came here to do school too, apparently.
But seriously, FOMO seems to be some weird manifestation of constantly comparing ourselves to our peers, and trying to one–up each other on who can ball out the hardest. That explains why we feel compelled to snap two straight minutes of our night for everyone to see. Then we’ll later post an Instagram that screams “Look how much fun I’m having,” but the caption will instead be some perfectly crafted expression of how “casual” it all really was. As much as Highbrow likes to shit on this kind of social media behavior, sometimes (very rarely) we do the exact same thing. We in turn feed the FOMO culture that the week before had us asking, “Am I social/fun/or just plain happy enough?”
So as the Fling pictures continue to roll in this week, we’d suggest to look beyond the Valencia filters, the open-mouthed smiles and glossy eyes and focus on what makes you feel genuinely fulfilled. A night stumbling home post–Allegro can be great, but only if that's what you want, regardless of the social capital that comes with going out and letting everyone else know. If anything, you'll reminisce over those nights that are unexpected: you surrounded by your favorite people, actually being in the moment instead of stopping to take a photo of it. And those are the ones that not even a drinsta (Drunk Insta. C'mon people.) can fully capture.
