04/01/2024
Hi all,
Today's post might sound trivial at first but do bear with me as this is something I have noticed about myself and have made some resolutions regarding it. Even if you do not consider yourself affected it might be something your children are or potentially could be dealing with. The topic today is FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and 40k FOMO at that.
I started delving deeper into the topic after hearing a fellow podcaster admitting openly that they are obsessed with 40k. My first reaction was 'big deal' but on second thought... Then I had a conversation with someone close to the podcast, with whom we have a dedicated space on discord to talk, who said 'you need to @-mention me because I have like 17 discords to track, chat groups for different leagues and I just can't keep up with all the messages'. Sounds familiar? Stay a while and listen...
40k has become huge. Warhammer community, discord, social media, Youtube, facebook, GW drip-feeding us content and new releases etc... Add to that the competitive side of it - tournaments, leagues, TTS leagues and teams forming... and let's not forget that the '40k celebrities' are now closer to us than they were ever before - there is A LOT to talk about. And a lot that you can miss out on, if you don't pay attention. A lot to obsess about if you want to stay up to date...
My hypothesis is that in the 40k community we all experience FOMO. The term itself is explained as the fear that others will have more quality interactions and participate in more satisfying, interesting and emotionally stimulating activities than us if we do not participate as well. And so we want to participate. We want to keep the celebrities and pros at arm's reach to be in on everything they do and not miss their latest result, list, army they had picked up or that inside joke that everyone keeps repeating. And we want to be there to experience it first hand as noone likes second-hand news. So we join discord after discord, FB group after FB group, the more hungry head on to instagram or even twitter and pay money for access. Today, if you go to five or six different discords, often times you will see the same familiar faces - a sign of us all wanting to be up to date, but also a sign of us all wanting to be a part of something common and shared.
Beautiful in theory, but not as much in practice. Although FOMO is traditionally attributed to teenagers and young adolescents, it has become common to larger groups after COVID and can lead up to a range of negative effects such as inability to enjoy the moment, feeling of loneliness, increased stress levels and making impulsive decissions in order to avoid 'the feeling of being left out'. According to Igor Rotberg, a psychologist and psychotherapist quoted by Polish Forbes 'we take our phones to the loo, we have it with us when we shower because we are unable to stay off it for 5 minutes straight. We monitor the screen of our phones during friends' and family meetings to see if a new notification arrives. It is commonly attributed to people experiencing FOMO that they cannot ignore those notifications and need to check them immediately.'
In the past it was said that teenagers are bombarded with idealized imagery of other people's adventurous, successful and fun lives which leaves them feeling inferior by comparison. At times this feels applicable to 40k as well. We want to be like our idols, we want to be successful, we want to learn. So we follow, we like and we subscribe, we hang on to every word of our pros and we listen to their endorsements. We copy their lists and buy the same armies, we go to events and expect similar results. We comment and we ask questions during live shows - partially to get the answer and partially to be seen and acknowledged as part of the community. And this is where reality kicks in - what we hear about online, what we see successful people achieve is not always available to us. Sometimes the contrary happens - we do something with high hopes and expectations and get let down because the army and the online advice didn't do the trick... And this again leads to disappointment, stress and could potentially lead to burn-out.
At first I thought that perhaps this is just my eperience, but the more I researched it, the more proof I found that there is truth in my hypothesis (about FOMO, not 40k FOMO ;] ). University of Warsaw releases an annual report on the topic and the last issue I found named 'FOMO 2022. Poles and the fear of missing out' concludes with these words: “Information overload leads to a tragic state, in which one cannot live offline. It is then simply impossible not to react to every news and notification on the internet. The results of the research ‘FOMO 2022. Poles and the Fear of Missing Out’ are far from optimistic. We still have a long way to go. I encourage everyone to miss out on the internet from time to time. This way we can finally start to feel the JOMO (the joy of missing out),”. Here are some summarized conclusions (my translation from Polish, source below):
17% of respondents experience high levels of FOMO - similarly to 2021 where this group amounted to 16%. There was a slight increase in the group experiencing low fear - 20% of respondents do not experience it at all.
FOMO is as common in men as it is in women - in previous editions high FOMO was typically attributed to men.
People experiencing high FOMO are more likely to get involved in risky behaviors related to using smartphones in dangerous situations such as browsing internet while driving or crossing the street.
Among the surveyed people with high FOMO seem to be experiencing three times as high stress levels as the rest of the group (34% vs. 13%).
45% of people with high FOMO feel information overload and only 3% does not have a problem managing it. Only 5% of the low FOMO group see themselves as overstimulated by information.
Teenagers (15-19 years of age) form 22% of the group most addicted to mobile phones, followed by young adolescents at 18%.
32% of respondents with FOMO start their day by checking social media and 44% do so before going to sleep. 25% browse social media during meals.
64% of people reporting high FOMO try to maintain healthy habits of using technology mainly through going offline (55%), maintaining f2f relationships (50%) and controlling their time online (40%).
I also notice that I am in the FOMO group and am trying to do something about it. I noticed that over the last quarter of 2023 I have devoted more time to 40k than anything else which not necessarily lead to joy or satisfaction. On the contrary, not only was the gaming part not rewarding but it also felt like I sacrificed other hobbies (like books, games, movies etc) for the sake of 40k. And so, although I usually don't make NY resolutions, the one for this year is to find balance and room for other hobbies. Naturally, the podcast and podcast-related activities remain my main focus, but other things like going to events, participating in online leagues and being involved in 40k-related social media can all take a back seat.
In the New Year I also wish you all balance and joy from what you do.
Let me know if the comments if any of this is relatable.
All the best,
Tomek
https://www.forbes.pl/wiadomosci/fomo-choroba-cywilizacyjna-naszych-czasow/1efht1m
https://www.uw.edu.pl/fomo-2022-polacy-a-lek-przed-odlaczeniem/ [galleryid-107586-1]/6/
https://youth.europa.eu/year-of-youth/young-journalists/fomo-contemporary-problem-affecting-many-young-people_en
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7504117/
Constant access to social media significantly has an impact on the lives of young people. It enables them to be in contact with the world and access information. However, these positive aspects often overshadow what many people are struggling with derived from the constant exposure to social media:....
