2. ročník doktorandské filosofické konference

Abstrakt příspěvku

Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) – Concept And Discourse

Mgr. Paul Herden
Deusche und französische Philosophie, FHS UK Prague

In the last twenty years a widespread emotional and psychological condition, condensed in the acronym FOMO (fear of missing out), has become a viral phenomenon among younger and older generations. The FOMO-neologism has not only seeped into our daily jargon, it has been lexicalized in renowned dictionaries while recognized as severe issue by health insurances, especially in the context of digitaliza1on and social media. One would think plenty of research has been done to conceptualize what FOMO is and how it comes about, but apart from a few psychological studies there isn’t a proper treatise from a humanities, let alone a philosophical perspective yet.

My hypothesis is: Missing out is a form of negativity. Negativity is constitutive of subjectivity. The capitalist mode of produc1on annihilates negativity, thus leading to fear and pathological subjectification. On one hand, it’s barely possible to miss out anymore; anything we want is immediately at hand, if not, FOMO kicks in: so paradoxically we fear missing out, because we barely miss out. On the other hand, we simultaneously miss out on a radically different way of existence beyond the confines of our current economic and cultural system; as we are latently aware of the fact that, our given civilizational standard would allow for a much better life, real FOMO is being fueled. Paradoxical vs. real FOMO form a contradiction which could serve as great tool for social critique, if analyzed as (ontological) difference between fulfillment vs. overfillment.

By conceptualizing FOMO in the wider context of social-philosophy, anthropology, ontology my research allows aiming to unravel a) the concrete relationship between FOMO and society, as well as b) complementing concepts of the human condition. Bundling scattered analyses that scarcely exists about FOMO, I discuss its origin, mechanism and symptoms, to disclose anthropological aspects and late modern grievances alike.

Keywords: Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), Negativity, Social-Pathalogy, Capitalism, Digitalization

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