On New Student Orientation day, Scripps should have posted signs around campus reading “CAUTION: Upon entering college you will experience painful bouts of ‘fear-of-missing-out’ syndrome.” Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but the common desire to experience everything the 5Cs and surrounding area have to offer while juggling sleep, school work, health, family, friends, and extracurriculars is a real problem that college students face. The fear of missing out is commonly referred to by the acronym “FOMO.”

Across the Consortium there is a club for any interest. There are information sessions outlining careers and internships and study abroad opportunities. There are speakers giving lectures every day of the week. There are sanctioned parties Wednesday through Saturday. There is so much to do, but sometimes life puts on the breaks. My workload for AISS gets in the way. My TSL article sneaks up on me. My daily workout gets pushed back. More and more things build upon each other and going to the dining hall even becomes a task.

At the end of a hard week, sometimes an early bedtime with some much needed rest is just plain necessary. As I am laying in bed, I check social media and email. Every week I am inundated by Facebook events, Event’s Digest notifications, Ventfull posts, and emails giving me information on activities and events around campus. Events and activities that are going on while I lay in bed. Like most students, I am interested in activities and I want to go meet new people and have a good time. At the back of my head I am also thinking: I need to network. I need to get good grades. I need to have the freshman year experience. I need to go out and meet people. Most of all, I need to sleep, but I have this gut wrenching fear of missing out.

College forces people to find a balance and FOMO skews this balance. So far in my Scripps experience I have experienced FOMO more times than I can count, however, I am now slowly developing my own schedule and making decisions on what is best for me. We as busy college students need to understand that not every party is going to be amazing and not every information session will shape our lives. Realizing that down-time is not only amazing, but necessary to remain balanced, reduces the FOMO.

Being at a college like Scripps that offers so many opportunities is both a blessing and a curse. Striking the balance between work, play, rest, and all other facets of life is necessary. The fear of missing out will always persist, but prioritizing can reduce the syndrome that is “FOMO” and allow an extra hour or two of well deserved rest.