Move over FOMO 

By Margaret Chisolm, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine 

I can’t think of a more boring and sad response to the question of “How have you been?” or “How are you doing?”  than “Busy.” 

But “Busy,” I’m sorry to say, is how I usually reply to such casual inquiries and what I hear from most of my clinical colleagues, both in and beyond academia. And “Busy,” I’m afraid, is just one step away from “Burned out.” 

Clinicians feel beleaguered by the electronic medical record and the increasing pressure to be available 24/7 to not only our patients and their care partners, but to pharmacists, insurance companies, and referring colleagues. Clinicians who are academics have the added pressures of grant writing, publishing, and presenting at conferences here and yon. And all of us feel the cultural tsunami of the constant online stream of information and misinformation, advertisements, etc.  

Although it’s good fortune to have family and friends, and to be a part of a community (e.g., school, church, gym), in the face of increasing work demands and cultural forces, sometimes even seemingly fun social events can feel overwhelming. If we beg off these invitations, we may instead decide to spend the time “productively” (e.g., completing a patient note, working on a grant submission, preparing a talk) or “unproductively” (e.g., scrolling Instagram, watching Netflix, blankly staring into space). Either way, by skipping an event, we may well experience FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). 

But enough is enough. Coming off a six-week run of presentations in two other countries and three other U.S. states—while keeping up with my usual weekday work demands—I’ve decided to ditch “Busy” and “Productive” and FOMO and instead embrace “Bored” and “Unproductive” and ROMO Move over FOMO; Cillian Murphy’s ROMO is the new trend : Relief of Missing Out.  I’ve decided not to travel to the Association of American Medical Colleges Learn Serve Lead (LSL) meeting or many of the other conferences that I typically go to in the coming year. I’ve decided not to work in the evenings or on weekends (unless of course I’m assigned to work in the hospital). Instead, I’ve decided to continue keeping up with my clinical care, research, and teaching during the day, and to spend with friends and family at home in the evening, and to attend mass at my local parish on Sundays.  

Will I miss seeing my colleagues at LSL and other conferences? Of course. Will my days be a little more stressed working on grant and manuscript deadlines? Probably. But I’m hoping—by embracing ROMO instead of FOMO—that I will become a little less Busy, a little more Bored (and perhaps, in turn, a little less Boring), and a lot less Burned Out. And for patient care, that can make all the difference. 

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This piece expresses the views solely of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of any organization, including Johns Hopkins Medicine.