The antidote to ‘Fear of Missing Out’, JOMO is a theory developed by the Danish psychology professor Svend Brinkmann, who in his book of the same name, describes how finding pleasure in disengagement is crucial. His theory on finding happiness in switching off explains the impending dread you may feel when your midweek dinner plan looms (followed by pangs of guilt for wanting to cancel on someone you love), versus the pure joy that ordering in, pulling on your pyjamas and binge-watching TV gives you. Repeat after me: I am not a bad friend: I. am. tired. And it’s not just the psychology world embracing the chill, fashion has taken a turn too. Sleepwear to dinner? Why not. Tracksuit bottoms for a meeting? Sure. If it requires effort, it’s not happening. The look du jour is about finding comfort in style and we’re here for it.
With social media platforms flooding us with content minute-by-minute, it’s no surprise that after a day of emails, meetings, Skype calls and incessantly checking our Whatsapp, an evening of ‘catching up’ feels like even more work. To put it simply, we’re overwhelmed. Many of us spend so much time with our heads buried in our phones that we rarely have a minute to process one piece of information before we double tap and move on to the next. And the most frustrating part of all is that despite being exhausted by content, we naturally live in a mindset where ‘wanting more’ is just a part of our culture. This explains the mindless scroll you may find yourself doing, despite not actually reading – or caring – about anything you see.
