Response to Jessica's Question

“Throughout your research did you find any studies that compare and contrast how much people actually believe what they see on Facebook to what they know as reality? Or how can this construction of reality feed into the idea of FOMO (fear of missing out)?”

I think this is a great question! From a personal standpoint I absolutely think Facebook can be a contributor to the fear of missing out, also known as FOMO, for a lot of people. Seeing pictures of events that you did not participate in, and the fun it looks like your friends in the photos are having, can definitely be a cause of this feeling. This also ties back in to the idea that everyone’s life looks great on Facebook, so we can feel like ours isn’t measuring up, and that we are missing out. There was not too much scholarly research done on this topic yet, but there was a great article in the New York Times that cites Facebook and other social networking sites as a large perpetrator in the creation of FOMO in today’s day and age. Wortham (2011) claims that when we see photos or posts about events that we did not go to, we immediately question our decision and become afraid we have made the wrong choice in deciding how to spend our time. This can be a cause major indecision and internal conflict.

Furthermore, Wortham claims that, seeing other’s Facebook posts about events we have elected not to go to allows us to imagine how things would be different if we have made other choices, which contributes to FOMO. Since Facebook is very much a live stream, constantly updating and refreshing, we can get around the clock reminders of what is going on within our social circles, and events we are not taking part in, which further influences one’s FOMO (Wortham, 2011). Therefore, FOMO is very much a real affliction driven by online social media use, so it follows that people must believe a lot of what they see online to be a real representation of peoples lives, or if would not generate such a strong response.

Wortham, Jenna. "Feel Like a Wallflower? Maybe It’s Your Facebook Wall." Business Day. The New York Times, 9 Apr. 2011. Web. 4 May 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/business/10ping.html?src=recg&_r=0>.