Facing instagram's fomo
Few years ago, I decided to minimize my Instagram use. The feeling of envy is unbearable from all the comparisons. Places they visited, foods they eat, clothes they wore, events they attended, achievements they got, their workout's new high record, etc. Maybe I wasn’t emotionally strong enough to face these. They gave me serious feelings of enviousness and fear of missing out (FOMO). I was 20 at the time, two years after graduating high school, yet I felt I haven’t achieved much, or truly lived college life enough.
Now at 25, I’ve matured a bit, I could handle and process negative feelings like envy, fear of missing out better than before. The curiosity of how my friends were doing got the better of me. Maybe my body was trying to give me signals that I need to do something about it so I decided to follow through. I started visiting Instagram again while also not expecting much. I probably won't get many updates, since last I remember it was mostly memes, other account’s posts, random selfies, and just messing around.
I still remember looking at my Instagram’s home page two weeks ago. On Sunday the first post and update I got is that one of my cousins got her master’s degree in education. She’s only a year older than me. Looking at the images and her stories I was surprised and became envious, though few seconds later I felt quite a bit of happiness from her smile on her posts and stories. Glad I wasn’t actually a completely terrible person.
There’s also another feeling, anger.
There was like a 2 whole years window where I could’ve known she was continuing her studies. I thought she was working at her store, not attending college again after she got a job. Apparently, she's also working there at the same time.
Perhaps I projected myself onto her, because I was years late to finish writing my undergraduate thesis. Mentally exhausted, and stumbling at it too non-stop. I haven’t for a second considered continuing my education further because how sucked I was compared to most of my friends who graduated 3 years ago. I was also very angry and disgusted at myself completely missing the fact that people could successfully work and attend college at the same time. So much emotions, mostly negative, and how intense it all mixed together.
This is a slap of reality. I've missed out.
Now I understand the pain and why it's feared.
My 20 year old self used to repeatedly seeing posts like that. Often feeling the same he would’ve minimized Instagram shortly. Might even as well said I quitted because I really never opened Instagram for years afterward. I was tired of being tired.
Well, do I quit now?
No, I still use Instagram this week, at least not every day, so.. no. Two weeks have passed since that post about my cousin's graduation. I still occasionally checked how my friends are doing, seeing memes they post in group chats, seeing posts they shared on their status, and posts they made themselves.
Also, it’s not just have been two weeks. Remembering vividly, it began after I finished presenting a presentation of my undergraduate thesis proposal in November 2024, now it is October 2025. Not only I’ve finished my proposal I also finished my undergraduate thesis. Huge load’s been off my shoulder since.
I’ve used Instagram for almost an entire year. Now it’s used for looking for jobs, getting rid of my tiredness on the bus with cat videos (80% of my discovery), and watching Peter Griffin talking about IT.
Now, if you're one of those people who completely quit Instagram, please don't use this posts as an excuse to go back. You know best why you quit, and you've likely realized the negative effects on your life far outweigh the positives.
However personally, right now using Instagram has brought me more benefits than harm. There are times when envy, negative emotions, or unhealthy comparisons arise. Instead of getting overwhelmed, I now choose to face those feelings as encouragement and as a push to train my thoughts and manage negative emotions. Be careful though, also as reminder for myself it could tire you out rapidly somehow, and for sure rot your brain. So please, use it with intention, use it in moderation.