JOMO
The joy of missing out: “I have to give a damn!”
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The opposite of the fear of missing out? The joy of not having to be there! Sounds pretty good for some people this year, right?
by Theresa König
We used to have the feeling that we might miss something if we weren’t there on the weekend: the party of the century, for example. Or the best sex of our lives. The Americans call this “fear of missing out”. But now a countermovement is spreading. It’s called JOMO, which stands for “Joy of missing out”. Means: There is nothing better than simply NOT being there. So put your feet up and relax. The advantages of this are practically obvious:
1. Health
It used to be like this: First you had to create a hearty base, then drink a lot of alcohol, followed by a kebab to soak up all the alcohol. We danced around for a bit, then had a few drinks on top, so we needed electrolytes in the form of Chips to prevent hangovers. It only helped a little, so we had a hearty hangover breakfast the next morning and then laid the foundation again with a frozen pizza in the early afternoon – and then the fun started all over again. The balance: 12,345 calories and alcohol-poisoned cells. At least. And today? Let’s give ourselves half of it, wake up without a hangover and look sensationally good even without exercising. Running.
2. Wealth
Let’s do a math: On a cheap night out, we used to pay for around two cocktails and a beer, a pack of fags and entry to a club. Zack, 40 euros were already gone. If you extrapolate that over the 52 weeks of a year, you get 2080 euros. If we assume that we were partying for at least two days, the party budget adds up to 4160 euros. In contrast, we now calculate the couch potato costs for a year (12 months of Netflix subscription, 12 good bottles of wine, 24 bags of chips = 120 + 120 + 48 euros = 288 euros) – and that leaves 3872 euros for the next Caribbean vacation! Tätätätäääääääää!
3. Time
After-work, bad taste parties, hit moves… we didn’t take part in everything just so we didn’t miss it. Ok, yes, it was worth the experience. Fortunately, we can now forget about it and instead concentrate on the things that are really fun: sleeping, eating, talking, meeting friends, watching the birds on the way to the bakery, learning all the constellations by heart, getting a doctorate in biochemistry – doesn’t matter! Because if we don’t do all that crap, we have time for the good stuff!