Elsevier

EXPLORE

Volume 10, Issue 2, March–April 2014, Pages 69-73
EXPLORE

Explorations
FOMO, Digital Dementia, and Our Dangerous Experiment

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2013.12.008Get rights and content

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FOMO Facts

Research psychologist, Andrew Przybylski of the University of Essex, and colleagues3 at University of California-Los Angeles and University of Rochester have recently published the first empirically based investigation of FOMO. Their findings:

  • FOMO is a driving force behind social media use.

  • FOMO levels are highest in young people and young men in particular.

  • Low levels of need satisfaction and life satisfaction are linked to high FOMO.

  • FOMO is high in those who engage in distracted driving.

  • FOMO is

Are You Addicted to the Web?

Here is an exercise in self-diagnosis—the questions used by a Chinese team researching the effect of heavy Internet use on kids' brains.12

  • 1)

    Do you feel absorbed in the Internet (you remember previous online activity or long for the next session)?

  • 2)

    Do you feel satisfied with Internet use if you increase your amount of time online?

  • 3)

    Have you failed to control, reduce or give up Internet use repeatedly?

  • 4)

    Do you feel nervous, temperamental, depressed or sensitive when trying to reduce or give up Internet

Fighting FOMO

I've found that remarking on every remarkable thing just makes everything less remarkable… I have “Be Still” tattooed on my wrist because I know that feelings, creativity, inspiration, wisdom, peace and the rest of the good stuff knock during empty moments.

—Glennon Melton, blogger at Momastery.com5

Martha Beck, the American sociologist and bestselling author, holds a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and a PhD degree in sociology from Harvard University. One of her concerns is the

Death by Internet in South Korea

For the past five years, Internet addiction has been considered a public health crisis in South Korea, the world's most wired nation. The problem became a national issue after users started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end.

Almost 100% of South Korean households have access to broadband infrastructure. The government estimates that up to 30% of those under 18 years of age are at risk. To combat the problem, over 200 counseling centers and hospitals now

Brain Damage Documented

An alarm went off in China in 2008. That year an extensive survey reported in China Daily found that 9.7% of Chinese Internet users between 13 and 30 years of age suffer Internet addiction.17 An Internet addict was defined as someone whose life, career, and interpersonal relations are harmed by Internet use. The Chinese emphasized three criteria: “First, a person feels happier or more self-fulfilled online than in the real world. Second, he feels upset, depressed, or panicked when being cut off

Awake and Online

What is the relevance of shrinking brains in China to the situation in the U.S.?

“If your kids are awake, they're probably online,” said a report on media use by kids in The New York Times in January 2010.23 “The average young American now spends practically every waking minute—except for the time in school—using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device.” The basis for these observations is a 2009 national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, “Generation M2: Media in the

Friends Don't Let Friends Text and Drive

It is not just brains that are at risk from FOMO. Entire bodies are.

Texting while driving is now the leading cause of death for teen drivers. Dr. Andrew Adesman, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and a team of investigators estimate that, nationwide, more than 3000 teens die annually and 300,000 sustain injuries from texting while driving. This exceeds the estimated 2700 young people who die each year as a result of driving under the

Distracted Walking

Bonnie Miller, an Indiana mother, nearly drowned in March 2012 when she fell from a pier into Lake Michigan while texting, but was rescued by her husband. In August 2012, a Philadelphia man fell from a pedestrian platform onto train tracks after being distracted by a text, but a Good Samaritan helped him get out of harm's way. In February 2011, Ryan Robbins, 19, after a night out in Melbourne, Australia, accidentally walked over a short railing in a parking lot while texting a friend and

Our Dangerous Experiment

Back to the brain. What do we know about heavy Internet use that is reasonably certain?

We know that FOMO is a driving force behind high levels of Internet use. We know that eight hours or more of daily Internet involvement with video games is correlated with brain shrinkage and damage in adolescents. We know that American children in general are already at this threshold of use, averaging between seven and eight hours of screen time daily. We do not know all we need to know about the relative

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