With the constant barrage of status updates and posts from various social media outlets, it’s easy for one succumb to FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). It’s prominent among society and has grown to be an epidemic.

FOMO is the anxiety that overcomes a person who has to constantly update Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or other social mediums of what they’re doing to compare them to updates from others to see if what they’re doing is better. It’s a competition for bragging rights and to see who is having a better night, with the winner being able to say, “You should’ve been there.”

People are so tied into their smart phones that they actually forget to or are unable to socialize amongst each other, which is showcased among teenagers, and even adults, whose main mean of communication is through text rather than an actual phone call or a face-to-face conversation.

This can be easily seen throughout school campuses: a group of students sitting together at a table with all of them just staring at their phones. FOMO has even plagued restaurants, with people having to take pictures of every little thing their eating or drinking just to post them online.

It happens all the time. It’s not uncommon (sadly) now to go to a party or a social gathering to see half (if not more) of the people there either on their phones updating their statuses or taking pictures to upload on Facebook for everyone to see, then tagging everyone at the party. This just cries out, “Hey! Look at me!”

Rather than wasting time updating social statuses, use that time to actually be with your friends and family instead of worrying about trivial posts. Truly enjoy the moment, whether it’d be a party, a concert, an event, a trip, or even a simple meal, and forget about having to post it for others to see.

People nowadays are so dependent on social media outlets that they sometimes forget to actually live their lives, but instead live vicariously through needless posts, updates, and check-ins that glamorizes their persona. These posts are often (if not always) an exaggeration of what’s really going on, and are there to provide comfort, excitement, or even just to brag about one’s life.

Heck, these posts might even be pure fabrications to enrich or feed one’s self-esteem or ego. There’s no way of discerning which updates are true or false, and so because of this, social media outlets provide a second life–a fantasy life, for those who wish to (or need to) concoct one. The online social profile becomes more of a character than an actual representation of the person.

This is when the line separating fantasy from reality becomes blurred, and what is left is just a shell of a life- a shallow image only to be displayed without any profound reasoning, much like reality television.