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Opinion
Sarah Green Carmichael

Covid-19 Has Taken Us From FOMO to ROMO

With everyone at home, the fear of missing out turns into the reality of missing out. That's some relief.

You’re missing out, but so is everyone. 

You’re missing out, but so is everyone. 

Photographer: RAYMOND ROIG/AFP via Getty Images

After the first week of self-isolation, I was startled to hear the same sentiment from friends on different continents: The pandemic is scary, but one silver lining is the total absence of FOMO. They said it was a relief to have stopped worrying that, somewhere, friends were having fun without them.

In lockdown, there’s no fear of missing out, because you know that no one is having fun, anywhere, with anyone. And the social-media sharing of vacation and concert photos that used to foster FOMO has evaporated.