Escape from FoMO

By Jacob Burak

Here’s a test you might enjoy: rate these scenarios on a number scale, ranging from 1 for mild discomfort to 7 for outrageous distress.1. rate: 評定等級，給……打分；scenario: 場景，方案；mild: 輕微的，不太嚴重的；outrageous:令人不能容忍的，極不尋常的；distress: 煩惱，痛苦。

Scenario 1: you’re visiting New York City and realise there’s no way you’ll be able to get to all the exhibits, see all the recommended plays, or take in even a fraction of the “musts” your local friends have raved about.2. exhibit: 展覽；a fraction of: 一小部分；must:n. 必須做、看、聽的事；rave: 極力贊揚。How do you feel now? Something like 5?

Scenario 2: you’re at dinner with friends, and you’ve all agreed to make it a strictly phone-free evening.3. strictly: 嚴格地，完全地；phone-free: 禁止使用手機的。But your smartphone won’t stop beeping Twitter and text alerts.4. beep: （提示音）嘟嘟響；Twitter: 這里指推特網(wǎng)上的每一條信息更新；text alert: 短信提示。Something is obviously up5. something is up: 〈口〉發(fā)生了某事，出了什么事。in your social network, but you can’t check. Even 7 wouldn’t match the stress you’re feeling now.

Welcome to FoMO (Fear of Missing Out), the latest cultural disorder that is insidiously undermining our peace of mind.6. insidiously: 不知不覺地；undermine: 暗中破壞，以陰險手段暗害。FoMO, a spawn of technological advancement and proliferating social information, is the feeling that we’re missing out on something more exciting, more important,or more interesting going on somewhere else.7.錯失恐懼癥是科技進步和社交信息激增的產(chǎn)物，其表現(xiàn)為我們感覺自己正在錯失某些發(fā)生在別處的更刺激、更重要、更有趣的事情。 spawn: 產(chǎn)物，結(jié)果；proliferating: 激增的，大量產(chǎn)生的。It is the unease of feeling that others are having a more rewarding experience and we are not a part of it.8. unease: 不自在，憂慮；rewarding: 值得做的，有回報的。According to a recent study, 56 per cent of those who use social networks suffer this modern plague9. plague: 瘟疫，疫病。.

要去倫敦旅行了，卻看到一個朋友正在瑞士徒步；買了條裙子，卻看到另一個朋友買了一雙更漂亮的新鞋；微博、朋友圈的消息更新怎么也看不完……此時，原本高興的心情轉(zhuǎn)為憂郁，繼而變?yōu)榻箲]、焦躁、茫然、患得患失等諸多情緒的綜合體，唯恐自己錯過了什么好事。在現(xiàn)代匆匆的生活步調(diào)中，這類“錯失恐懼癥”對我們生活質(zhì)量的妨礙越來越明顯。我們能否偶爾學(xué)會與我們的手機、電腦和社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)說拜拜呢？

Of course, that sense of missing out is nothing new. Edith Wharton, Charlotte Bront and Stendhal,to name but a few, described the angst of missing out long before we could look up high-school friends on Facebook.10. Edith Wharton: 伊迪絲·華頓（1862—1937），美國女作家，代表作包括《高尚的嗜好》、《純真年代》和《戰(zhàn)地英雄》等；Charlotte Bront: 夏洛特·勃朗特（1816—1855），19世紀英國著名女作家，世界文學(xué)名著《簡·愛》的作者，勃朗特三姐妹之一；Stendhal: 司湯達（1783—1842），19世紀法國作家，被認為是最重要和最早的現(xiàn)實主義實踐者之一，代表作包括《紅與黑》和《帕爾馬修道院》等；angst: 憂慮，恐懼。

But while 19th-century protagonists spent a lifetime grappling with a single missed opportunity,today’s incessant flow of information is a disturbing reminder of the world rushing by.11. protagonist: （小說或故事中的）主角，主人公；grapple with: 盡力解決；incessant: 不斷的，持續(xù)的。As you read this,you might be missing a party that some friends are throwing12. throw a party: 舉辦一場聚會。or the meal that other friends are eating without you. At night, when you’ve solemnly sworn yet again to put the phone aside or turn off the computer, you grab one last peek at the screen on your way to bed—lest you miss some titbit supplied by mere acquaintances or even strangers requesting your“friendship” or announcing news.13. 夜里，你再次鄭重地下決心要把手機放在一邊或關(guān)掉電腦，然而你還是在上床前抓住最后一次機會往屏幕上一瞅，生怕你錯過了哪怕是不熟的人發(fā)布的一些花邊趣聞，甚至只是陌生人的好友請求或者系統(tǒng)消息。solemnly: 鄭重地，嚴肅地；lest: 唯恐，生怕；titbit:趣聞，花邊新聞。

We all know the studies showing that end-of-life regrets centre on what we didn’t do, rather than on what we did. If so, constantly watching others doing things that we are not is fertile ground for a future of looking back in sorrow.14. 倘若如此，一直看別人做著一些自己無法做的事情，將來回想之時難免會引發(fā)諸多傷感。fertile: 有助于……發(fā)展的，滋生……的。A lively conversation at the other end of the table can give us the FoMO itch, just as can the dizzying array of shows, parties, books, or the latest in consumer trends pumped at us by social media.15. 在桌子另一端進行的高談闊論就能令我們的“錯失恐懼癥”發(fā)作，正如社交網(wǎng)站不斷推送給我們的一系列令人眼花繚亂的演出、聚會、書籍或最新消費趨勢一樣能使我們“發(fā)病”。lively: 熱烈的，愉快的；itch: 癢，欲望；dizzying: 令人眼花繚亂的，令人不知所措的；array: 一批，大量；pump:（信息或產(chǎn)品）大量供應(yīng)。

Our attractive online personas—so alluring from afar—make FoMO more virulent still.16. persona: 偽裝的外表；alluring: 吸引人的，迷人的；afar: 在遠處，遙遠地；virulent: 惡性的，致命的。The Massachusetts Institute of Technology social psychologist Sherry Turkle says that technology has become the major construct through which we define intimacy.17. the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:麻省理工學(xué)院，美國一所綜合性私立大學(xué)，有“世界理工大學(xué)之最”的美名；social psychologist: 社會心理學(xué)家；construct: 構(gòu)想，概念；intimacy: 親密，親近。We confuse our hundreds, or even thousands, of“friends” on social networks with the handful of intimate friends we have in reality.

Drawing on hundreds of interviews, Turkle claims that the price we are paying for technological prosperity is the gradual decline of important relationships—with our parents, children, or partners—and the birth of a new type of loneliness.18. draw on: 利用，動用（信息、經(jīng)驗、知識等）；prosperity: 興隆，發(fā)達。“Insecure in our relationships, and anxious about intimacy,” she writes, “we look to19. look to: 指望，依靠。technology for ways to be in relationships, and protect ourselves from them at the same time.” If you have ever looked on in wonder as someone taps out an endless text message instead of actually talking to the person they’re with, you will find comfort in Turkle’s assessment that our relationship with technology is still maturing.20. tap out:（尤指用手指或腳）輕敲出；mature: 變成熟。Being connected to everyone, all the time, is a new human experience; we’re just not equipped to cope with it yet.21. be equipped to: 有能力做……；cope with:處理，應(yīng)付。

Turkle says our dependence on technology can be mitigated if we manage to detach ourselves, even for short periods of time,from our gadgets.22. mitigate: 緩和，減輕；detach oneself from: 使從……分離；gadget:（尤指電子、機械的）小裝置，小玩意。Will we one day buy devices from FA (FoMO Anonymous)23. FA: 匿名戒“錯失恐懼癥”會。源自著名的美國匿名戒酒會（Alcoholics Anonymous），一個國際性互助戒酒組織，幫助酗酒者戒酒，重新過正常的生活。to help us recover from our technology addiction?Even with such interventions, the problem might be resolved only when we grasp that our brains and our humanity—not our technologies—enable this addiction, in the end.24. intervention: 干預(yù)，介入；resolve: 解決（矛盾、問題、爭端等）；grasp: 理解，領(lǐng)悟。We cannot seek solutions without honestly asking ourselves why we are so afraid of missing out.

The University of Oxford social scientist Andrew Przybylski recently conducted the first empirical study on the exploding disorder.25. empirical study: 實證研究，即通過直接或間接的觀察或經(jīng)驗獲得知識的方式；exploding: 激增的，迅速擴張的。Among his conclusions, there and elsewhere, is that FoMO is a driving force behind social media use.26. there and elsewhere: 此處指“在上句提到的實證研究以及別的研究中”；driving force: 推動力。FoMO levels are highest in young people, in particular young men. It is high in distracted drivers, who engage in other activities while behind the wheel.27. distracted: 思想不集中的，分神的；behind the wheel: 在駕駛汽車時。此處的“wheel”指的是方向盤。And perhaps most revealing,FoMO occurs mostly in people with unful filled psychological needs in realms such as love, respect,autonomy and security.28. unfulfilled: 未得到滿足的，未能實現(xiàn)的；autonomy: 獨立自主，自主權(quán)。All in all, we are afraid of missing out on love and on feeling that we belong; those of us heavily invested in work also fear missing an opportunity for professional advancement or a profitable deal.29. invest in: 在……上投入時間、精力等；professional advancement: 升職；profitable:可獲利的，有利可圖的。

Freedom from other people’s opinions and release from social comparison is a triumph reserved for very few.30. triumph: 勝利；be reserved for: 為……保留。The self-discipline strong enough to withstand31. withstand: 經(jīng)得起……，頂?shù)米　?。the power of FoMO is no less rare. What, then, can we do about something so detrimental32. detrimental: 不利的，有害的。to our quality of life?The best way to cope with FoMO might be to recognise that, at our frenetic pace of life, we are sometimes bound to miss out.33. frenetic: 瘋狂的，激動的；be bound to: 必然，一定要。And that, when we do, we might actually improve the outcomes of the options we have chosen.Our soul is crying out for help, imploring us to limit our super ficial connectivity and our frantic hopping from site to site.34. implore: 懇求，企求；super ficial: 表面的，膚淺的；frantic: 瘋狂的，狂亂的；hopping: 跳躍。

If you still doubt that “good enough” is the best antidote to FoMO, the words of the American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson might strike a chord:35. antidote: 解藥，對抗手段；Ralph Waldo Emerson: 拉爾夫·沃爾多·愛默生（1803—1882），美國思想家、文學(xué)家；strike a chord:（在某人心中）引起共鳴?！癋or everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”