FOMO
[Fear of Missing Out]

Apart from the dreaded virus
Is this the malady of our age?
FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out

But what might be the missing items?
Could it be some of these?

When you are just a young girl or boy
You simply must have the latest toy
It’s no use being told these things are just trash
And your parents can’t afford to spend so much cash

As you grow into those teenage years
FOMO brings on some serious fears
Unless you can sport the trendiest gear
Your complete deprivation will bring on a tear!

You loudly declare that all of your in-crowd
Have smart phones and tablets of which to be proud
You have missed out in this tech revolution
And demand that your parents find a solution

After schooling’s complete you need to progress
A top university is bound to be best
But your school achievements are rather pathetic
No clear indication of the mind academic

In time you emerge with an unimpressive degree
To the working world you’ve been set free
But where is that promise of a future so bright?
I am sorry to say it’s nowhere in sight

Eventually you aspire to some modest employment
Into which your limited talents might find deployment
Job satisfaction is the least of your care
But the minimum wage you consider unfair

On somewhere to live you must not miss out
The old family home is no place to hangout
But the bank manager soon puts you into a rage
When he declares the cost of a mortgage

And so FOMO continues as you progress through life
Why so much pressure to find husband or wife?
There is nothing wrong with the single life
One way of avoiding continual strife

But if you do eventually tie the knot
Married or partnered it matters not
In due time FOMO might well arise
If no baby appears for you to baptise

Next, in your job, you miss out on promotion
This results in a display of rampant emotion
The world is patently unfair and unjust
Is there no-one left in whom you can trust?

And so as you go through all of life’s phases
You’re afraid you’ll miss something at each of these stages
You wonder if you will ever be set free from this tension
When at last you are granted the meagre state pension

What is the moral of this woeful tale?
You should not allow FOMO to be some kind of blackmail
You should completely expunge all these irrational fears
And Missing Out phobia will soon disappear

Ken Fisher