FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out): Constant anxiety over missing out on something important. The patient may not actually know of anything specific he or she is missing but can still possess a fear that others are having a better time.

Symptoms: Procrastination, indecision, anxiety, shortness of breath, pacing, racing heart, nail-biting, hair-twisting

Treatment: FOMO treatments vary by patient, ranging from De-Teching to logging onto Facebook.

Side effects: More FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is the uneasy and sometimes all-consuming feeling that you’re missing out—that your peers are doing, in the know about or in possession of more or something better than you. FOMO may be a social angst that’s always existed, but it’s going into overdrive thanks to real-time digital updates and to our constant companion, the smartphone. Once social media makes people aware of things to which they otherwise might never have been privy, it can spark a sense of vicarious participation or motivate real-world behavior. Conversely, it can be a curse, fostering anxiety and feelings of inadequacy.

FOMO is the sometimes energizing, sometimes terrifying anxiety that you are missing out on something absolutely terrific. It could be a TV show, it could be a party, it could be a gadget, it could be that really good burrito from the food cart. The important thing to keep in mind with FOMO is that it’s not just a state of mind; it is also a physical reaction. So as a FOMO sufferer, I can report sweating, itching, pacing and compulsive refreshing of my Twitter feed.

The acronym is infiltrating vocabularies as more than just an am using expression. FOMO encapsulates an increasingly pronounced phenomenon in the age of social media—an ageless concept that’s reached a tipping point. With 845 million-plus active users on Facebook, not to mention Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and other social platforms, today’s unprecedented awareness of how others are living their lives is predisposing more and more people to FOMO. While the fear of missing out has always been essential for mar keters to understand, it’s grown more significant for brands, since today’s intensified FOMO drives behaviors on social media sites and, s ubsequently, real-world consumer actions and self-perceptions.

Read very interesting report:

http://www.jwtintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/F_JWT_FOMO-update_3.6.12.pdf