Ditch social media and FOMO to discover the 'Joy of Missing Out'

Let's see if this sounds familiar: Your child is at an event. Maybe it's a soccer final or a violin recital or a school play. You are thrilled ... but let's face it: you want that Facebook moment... and you're not going to miss it. At the end of that special event, you may have the perfect photo upload, and highly like-able status update ... but it occurs to you then, you haven't really seen a thing ... aside from the screen of your phone. In a sense, you haven't really even been there.

If that sounds at-all familiar, you can rest assured that you're not alone. A new study has found that more than half — in fact about 58 per cent — of respondents admit that posting the perfect picture has prevented them from enjoying life's experience. The study is called Society's New Addiction: Getting a "Like" over Having a Life.

David Maxfield is one of the authors of that study. He's also a psychologist and the Vice President of Research for Vital Smarts. He was in Richmond, Virginia. 

Ever heard of JOMO? It stands for The Joy of Missing Out. It's a play on FOMO, or the "Fear of Missing Out." It's a pervasive sensation, especially amongst the younger social media set.

This mock movie trailer about the nagging fear of being out of the loop, sums it up nicely.

Let us know what you think about the joy of missing out. Have you ever ruined or missed a special moment by trying to document it? And if you feel up to it... show us the photos you regret taking.

Tweet us @TheCurrentCBC. Find us on Facebook.Or email us.

This segment was produced by Shannon Higgins and Ines Colabrese.