Current Events 1

Quarantine FOMO 

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, FOMO has developed in the world most distinctly. Authorities of almost every country in the world had announced an obligatory quarantine for their citizens, and borders had been closing for travelling. However, all of the restrictions and, after the improvement of the epidemiological situation, alleviations, have been happening unevenly in the world. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to observe current events by reading and/or watching the news, and to follow people from any corner of our planet in order to look at how their life is going. So, in this case, there are several points on this topic to be mentioned.

     The statistics of coronavirus-infected/dead/survived population in each state and in the word in general have become an every-day thing to check, just as looking at a weather forecast the morning. Even though the information about the number of cases most likely is not going to help one out, it is agenda-setting, and refreshing the page might make them more confident, because they feel going with the times.

One of the COVID-19 statistics websites

It may seem that when everything we had been used to, was shut down, people got far less reasons to worry about - we all were in the same situation. In reality, by shifting and adapting all activities to the online format, people got even more motives to experience FOMO. Nowadays it is felt toward digital activities in which we are unable to participate due to lack of time or wish, but we see others doing these things. Quarantine-imprisoned have been swamped with digital alternatives to in-person activities during the pandemic - Instagram Live workouts, online cooking workshops, and new movies on streaming platforms. As a result, there's a lot more to miss out on and to feel anxious because of that.