TOPIC 5: Social media is triggering ‘Fear of Missing out’ among the youth, precipitating loneliness and depression.(UPSC CSE 2024)

Introduction

“We are lonely but fearful of intimacy, digital connections and the social media we use to alleviate that loneliness, only to make us feel more isolated.” – By Sherry Turkle. Recently, a young employee from EY died by suicide. As per the parents, she was working in a very high-pressure environment, where she had no time left to cater to her bare minimum needs like proper sleep, eating or even bare walks around. Her life was completely immersed in job. The high-pressure environment at her office led to fear of missing out that they are falling behind the peers. Thus, it may have led to overworking to keep up with career growth as priority leaving aside the other necessities of life. Similarly, in June 2020, a young, successful and aspiring actor, Sushant Singh Rajput, died by suicide. Friends alleged that the actor was facing depression and pressures of social media and the entertainment industry. Despite his huge success, he was repeatedly struggling with feelings of isolation and loneliness. Thus, the quote and many more stories exemplifies that social media comes with its own sets of challenges; these platforms often foster a constant sense of comparison, exclusion, and inadequacy, which fuels ‘Fear of Missing Out’ that ultimately leads to mental health challenges like loneliness and depression.

Interpretation

“We’re increasingly connected to each other but oddly disconnected from ourselves. It’s a lonely crowd on social media.” – By Andrew Sullivan. The social media refers to the digital platforms and applications that help people, connect, share and exchange ideas, content and information in real time virtually through networks or community interactions. For example, Facebook, Instagram for personal, and LinkedIn for personal and professional networking. It been a boon to humanity in form of inter-connections, innovation, growth and awareness via mass reach of audiences and fostering creativity, knowledge sharing via through social campaigns with platforms like YouTube educational content, Podcasts, etc. It has many success stories to its honor like Beer Biceps, Mostly Sane, or Nancy Tyagi’s journey to Cannes. The quote highlights that yet, there are certain concerns w.r.t social media in recent times, such as addiction to phones, privacy issues, cyber bullying, harassment and crucially ‘Fear of missing out (FOMO)’, as it goes undetected. FOMO, refers to the anxiety that comes when individuals feel that they are missing out on exciting experiences or opportunities that are being enjoyed by others, that they are displaying. The villainous role of social media here is that they curate, provoke, publish, and motivate content that is supposed to arouse dopamine to induce people to go for instant gratification, forgetting who they are, for example, the lavish vacations, social media trends on reels or displaying achievements. Even though the reality behind social media posts may not always reflect true happiness, the exaggerated content of online material leads people to believe that other people live better lives. Thus, young minds who are yet to experience life fall into the ‘trap of trying the filtered realities’, leading to the release of cheap dopamine and, ultimately, at the final stage, breeding anxiety, contributing to feelings of loneliness and depression. Recently Prachi Nigam a young topper in her state board, was trolled heavy on social media for her looks, this incident disturbed her so much so, that she was quoted saying “I wish I hadn’t topped”. Likewise, Ashwani in 2017 ended her life after being mocked on Tik Tok. Thus, loneliness, and depression stems from various issues that inception of social media has bout with it. Thus, it highlights the profound emotional, psychological, and social consequences of FOMO, particularly on the youth, our demographic dividend.

Elaboration

Exploring the social media

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”- Eleanor Roosevelt. The impact of social media have been multifield, and various stakeholders of the society, From a child, to an adult to a senior citizen who is also victim of isolation for being unable to adapt. The social media boom almost started with the success of Facebook in 2004, targeting college students and later expanding to the general public. Further success paved the way for the rise of Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, making paths for connections, information sharing and community building, fostering opportunities, creativity and expression, a revolution that bonded humans. For instance, family members at distance could connect conveniently with less cost through internet video/voice  like Whatsapp. Or Reddit hosting subreddits to allow users to engage with people having common interest. Likewise, Memes, challenges, and viral content shape cultural trends by reflecting societal values or criticism. As a powerful tool for activism, it has birthed enabling movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo to gain momentum and visibility. But the darker side has been more concerning, as youth of global world and India have been targeted unfairly due to lack of regulation. The quote explains the culture of comparison through examples like the the Blue Whale challenge, where harmful tasks had to be completed, to buying an iPhone, Coldplay or Diljeet concert tickets waiting in long digital ques to display the extravagant life one has suggested that externalities matter more than genuine connections. Thus, its role in modern society is multifaceted, influencing communication, culture, mental health, commerce, and more.

Exploitation the social media

“FOMO leads people to spend time on social media checking what others are doing, but ultimately it leaves them feeling more disconnected, more lonely, and often more anxious.” – Dr. Emma Seppälä. By nature, “Man is a social animal”, has a deep desire to connect and belong to a group. During ancient days we saw gatherings, fairs, festivals where people connected and fostered bonds. However, in current times, platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram have amplified desires multifold through mass local/global reach, opening up avenues of misuse and exploitation via capitalism and monopoly. The quote emphasises that social media is a double-edged sword, offering numerous benefits while also presenting significant challenges. It’s pervasive influence on the youth has intensified the FOMO culture. It has opened a pandora box of threats that youngsters face while using or exploiting social media. For instance, the comparison culture associated with psychological issues gives a feeling of inadequacy. Instant gratification through notifications and updates can lead to divided attention, making it harder for them to concentrate on reading or studying, contributing to poor academic performance and increased stress. Physiologically, the stress of constant connectivity can lead to symptoms like insomnia due to checking posts/mails at night. Social media algorithms often create echo chambers isolating youth from diverse perspectives by showing users content that aligns with their views, and leading to loneliness when seeing different opinions. There is battle between social identity and self-image, where an individual is forced to engage in social media in fear of being perceived as anti-social, thereby creating a loop of “connection-expectation-validation-depression”. There is a divide between “the filtered and non-filtered life”, and to excel in the first, youngster starts to dissociate with their true self-identities, leading to loneliness and deprivations, disbalancing their personal and social life, breeding FOMO related anxiety, and can intensify to committing suicides. For instance, recently NEET AIR 1 ranker committed suicide due to lack of job satisfaction. Many young people turn to social media as an escape from their everyday problems. For instance, procrastinating responsibilities during stressful periods like exams, often adds further anxiety. Social media often imposes impossible lifestyle standards to young users, driving them into incomparable criteria for self-adjustment. For example, “Fitspiration” influencers increase body shame and trigger unhealthy behaviours in the form of extreme dieting or excessive exercise, increasing feelings of inadequacy and depression among adolescents. Social media creates FOMO by flaunting outings and vacations. This fear drives people to overcommit to events, causing a cycle of anxiety and emotional exhaustion. The need to perfectionism to show a perfect life, an online user may spend hours editing photos and crafting captions, which can lead to mental exhaustion and anxiety. It creates a disconnect between their reel and real-life struggles creating feelings of loneliness and depressions. Similarly, an excess of social media for communication can block the development of personal social skills, leading to increased social anxiety and feelings of isolation in real-world scenarios. Self-censorship is one of the biggest problems associated with anxiety with regard to an online persona. A study indicated that excessive social media use is linked to a decrease in overall life satisfaction and increased loneliness. The dimensions of like culture, self-doubt, comparison, and instant gratification illustrate the multi-faceted nature of social media’s impact. Thus, what started as a bond is now snatching away the bond – with parents, friends, nature –in extreme cases even with life and more so, with reality.

Empowerment through social media

Social media is not a media. The key is to listen, engage, and build relationships.” – By Arianna Huffington. The quote exclaims that making social media a tool for empowerment rather than a trigger for FOMO lies in its mindful usage. Social media offers huge opportunities for learning and personal development by promoting authenticity that helps combat FOMO. For example, Coursera, Instagram, YouTube channels, of educators, and so forth, help provide particular skills. The lowering of FOMO can be effectively done if one setup limits to their use of social media via digital detoxes, by increasing a healthy user-platform relationship. In fact, ‘real-world’ relationships can be maximised, as the connection provided by face-to-face communication cannot be rivalled by that of social media. Hence, social media must come with social responsibility. For instance, following positive role models like educators, experts can also help one to focus from comparison to growth. Similarly, by sharing struggles along with successes, one can ensure a more balanced portrayal of life. “Perfect” and “real” versions of photos by influences can teach citizen taking better choices. It shows that reel life is not the whole truth. Social media forums can portray healthy ways to deal with stress like meditation apps, or comedy and creativity forums, giving chance to exhibit one’s natural talents in things like art, music, or simply good writing. Social media campaigns through hashtags like #SelfCareSunday, #MentalHealthMatters, and #BodyPositivity  encourages the user to have self-acceptance and create awareness around issues such as self-esteem. This in turn could cause people to gain more perspectives and ultimately reduce anxiety and loneliness. Empowerment by social media can be a counterbalancing agent to possible negative experiences created by FOMO, loneliness, and depression. While social media usually happens to be the villain that increases FOMO and also worsens mental health. Its wise-usage can serve the purpose of positivity, empowerment, and self-improvement to promote mental well-being, facilitate connection, foster creativity, and provide spaces for self-expression.

Anti-Thesis

The Joy of Missing Out (JOMO)

“Social media is about the people. Not about your business. Provide for the people, and the people will provide for you.” – Randi Zuckerberg. The quote supports that regardless of some of the dark perceptions, social media when viewed from different sides of the coin is not psychologically or physiologically bad for a person. Rather than evoking loneliness, they help people in engagement, creativity, and mutual support brought about by having peers to count on for fostering emotional durability. Instead of FOMO, social media may positively influence one’s self-esteem through motivation and inspiration by learning successes, projects, or educational achievements from platforms. For example, DIY food recipes from Kabitas Kitchen channel helped housewives open up business and hone their cooking skills Similarly, social media Twitter movement like #BellLetsTalk try to remove stigmas by bringing debates on depression open to all. Social media minimizes economic isolation and opens pathways toward professional development.

Also, environmental and social causes help outline a shared sense of identity among people, thus reducing loneliness. Social media platforms like Zoom and WhatsApp became vital during COVID for maintaining emotional closeness despite physical distance. Instead of fuelling FOMO, the social networks democratize the knowledge garnered. Through its open access to resources, it eliminates educational and social inequalities and gives a chance to the youth to create their skill. Thus, making ways of fighting loneliness, by promoting mental health support systems, and meaningful interactions across global networks. In itself, it is not the cause of these issues but a medium that reflects the complexity of human interaction in the digital age.

Way Forward

The balance is the key

“The best marketing strategy ever: Care.” – Gary Vaynerchuk. The quote signifies that a balanced approach allows users to benefit from the digital world without creating a deterioration in mental health, thus raising a generation that uses social media as a force for good. For instance, developing healthy circadian rhythm help reduce damage caused by FOMO, loneliness. Initiatives such as “No Screen Week” or India’s Fit India Movement encourage the youth to step out and seek exercise. Family initiatives toward having conversations face-to-face regularly can foster deep relationships among young people. Governments, banning or limiting the spread of harmful content or fake news can have a significant impact on improving the mental health of users. Engagement on social media needs to be centred on digital literacy, and emotional intelligence initiatives, like Google’s Be Internet Awesome campaign, for children online safety, “Take a Break” feature of Instagram can help teens and even regular users disconnect from social media as a mental health-enabling tool. Algorithmic changes positive messaging allow for and promote content that creates community and education, which stops FOMO, especially in youth. Using social media with a purpose for example movements like #Bookstagram or the #BlackLivesMatter campaign exemplifies  how social media can be used as a tool for social change. Finally, at a micro level parents discussing healthy digital habits and at macro level, regulatory steps like France’s law requiring parental consent for children under 13 to join social media can playa heroic role rather than a villainous one. Thus, the topics of positive body image and mental wellness would combine to build a positive online community that would move away from feelings of inadequacy or loneliness.

Conclusion

The best way to capture moments is to pay attention. This is how we cultivate mindfulness.” – By Jack Kornfield. The quotes point us to the path towards ‘Mindfulness by Buddha’, the art of being in the present which can help disassociate individuals from this hub of endless comparison by digital media and nurture satisfaction or ‘Santushti’ within the individual. Likewise, Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of simplicity and truth further aligns with the need for youth to reject the superficial validation of social media and instead focus on self-sufficiency and inner satisfaction. Moreover, the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda is steeped in the ideals of spiritual strength and individual empowerment advising young hearts to realize their internal value that is unlinked to photographs and information they acquire through online portals. By embracing such mindsets which include contentment, respect, and individual value, the present youth can overcome the nasty effects of FOMO, loneliness, and depression, thus establishing a deeper relationship with self and the surroundings. Because “The Joy of Missing Out (JOMO)” helps you become one with your true self.