Social media sites don’t always boost our self-esteem, but does fear of missing out keep us coming back for more?
By Hannah Kintner, Staff Writer kintner13@up.edu
It's 11 o'clock on a school night, your homework is still not done and you've checked Facebook twice already. Heck, you've procrastinated this long, hitting refresh once more couldn't do any harm. Nothing new. What are you hoping to see when you check Facebook anyway?
In recent years, ABC News, CNN and The New York Times have reported a probable cause of social media obsession: FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out.
According to their reports, FOMO makes people think that what they choose to do with their time is not good enough, and with social media, one can more clearly visualize what they could be doing instead. FOMO can also create feelings of inadequacy when people see what others are up to all the time on social networking sites.
Education professor Karen Eifler, agrees that social media networks have the ability to make people feel lonely or as if they're missing out, noting that if a person begins to worry too much about their status on Facebook or updating their Twitter, that person is in danger of losing the ability to interact well with people in face-to-face settings.
"We can write great emails and great status updates and post things on Twitter, but we can't talk to the person in the office next door, and so that makes me kind of sad," Eifler said.
Acknowledging that Facebook and other social media sites have the power to reform the way humans view their relationships with one another, Eifler believes that FOMO is important for students to consider.
"I definitely know that when I'm doing homework I wonder what people are doing online," junior Keri Jackson said.
Jackson explained that over the summer, she took a six-week break from Facebook and felt completely refreshed, but now that she has reintroduced herself to social media, she can't get enough.
"The difference is so crazy," Jackson said.
Sophomore Kelsey Rouse also frequently checks Facebook and has found that it's not always a confidence booster.
"Especially with Facebook, people show all the things they're doing and they're like 'Oh my God, this person's my best friend' and you're just reading it going, 'I have no life,'" Rouse said.
While students were quick to admit they may have FOMO, sociology professor Bryan Rookey is not so convinced that FOMO is a serious problem. While he too feels the incessant urge to check social networking sites while trying to be productive, he believes the benefits of social networking outweigh the costs.
"If you're looking for a job and you have 700 Facebook friends, you update your profile and say, 'I'm looking for a job,' you now have 700 people who can help you," Rookey said. "In terms of social support, you have potentially 700 people wishing you happy birthday and those things make you feel good."
Noting that social media can help people become more politically engaged and informed, or more in touch with volunteering opportunities or social issues, Rookey believes that social networks are potentially more helpful than harmful.
However, students felt differently.
"I think you start to miss out on actual human interaction and then you're just sitting there stocking people on Facebook when you'd rather be out doing something that'll make you feel more connected," Rouse said.
Jackson agrees.
"Most people now a days only interact with some people online, and then they don't know how to talk to people when they see them in person, so I feel like Facebook replaces real friendships," Jackson said.
Jackon's dispositions parallel Eifler's biggest worry related to social media sites - that the human race will lose the ability to interact face-to-face with one another. However she is optimistic about the effects social media will have on human relations, acknowledging the ability we now have to keep in touch with people and events from afar.
Eifler related her sentiments to those of the people who worried that the invention of the printing press would destroy human memory.
"It did, it did, but at the same time it gave everybody books and that's a great thing," Eifler said. "It could mean that social media really changed the way we relate to each other, but like any wonderful thing changing, that can be really painful."
While some uses of social media are not beneficial, Eifler believes evaluating our use of social media we may use it for good.
"It is just a tool and like any tool it depends on how you use it," Eifler said. "It's up to the imagination and courage of the person using the tool to decide what road that's going to take."