Generation Zs are selecting JOMO over FOMO. I feel they’re onto one thing

I used to indicate as much as issues I didn’t need to attend, in garments I didn’t want to purchase, in Ubers I couldn’t actually afford, to rooms full of individuals I’d spend the entire night time mentally escaping. Not as a result of I wished to be there. Because I used to be scared of not being there. FOMO – that gnawing, barely embarrassing nervousness – drove me out the door for years. And let’s be trustworthy, the work-related ’gram: she nonetheless wants some feeding.

Well. That story is evolving. Fast. There’s a quiet, very assured counter-movement taking place in residing rooms and on sofas in all places. JOMO – the Joy of Missing Out.

It’s not laziness, and it’s not delinquent behaviour. It’s a deliberate, thought of option to choose out of the relentless efficiency of being seen to be “out there”, and choose into one thing that really feels good. Prioritising quiet over noise. Genuine friendships over obligation. And realising that being slightly unreachable is extra of a standing image than all the time being out there.

The numbers again it up. According to a recent report, individuals who embrace JOMO report 32 per cent decrease stress ranges on common, and sleep 45 minutes longer every night time than these nonetheless caught in FOMO loops. Expedia’s 2025 Travel Trends analysis discovered that 62 per cent of travellers say sluggish, JOMO-style holidays scale back stress and nervousness and practically half say it deepens their relationships with family members.

The Global Wellness Summit 2026 confirmed what many people already really feel: JOMO is now seen as life-style medication, a scientific response to continual nervous system exhaustion. And guess who’s main the cost? Gen Z! Long labelled the “always online” era, exhausted, paradoxically, by the digital overstimulation of their very own youth.

Australia’s Right to Disconnect legal guidelines, now absolutely enforced, mirror a broader international recognition that hyper-connectivity has develop into a public well being difficulty, not only a private one.

But truthfully? Stats apart, the economics of FOMO take advantage of compelling case of all. Walking out my door lately is a monetary occasion. A superb dinner for 2 can hit a few hundred bucks. A spherical of drinks – and I’m a minimal drinker – can set you again $80 earlier than you’ve loosened up sufficient to take pleasure in your self. Add an Uber every method; one thing recent to put on so that you look extra now than ’90s; possibly a blow dry or a nail appointment as a result of that simply makes it really feel particular – and all of the sudden a Tuesday night time out carries the monetary weight of a mini-break. For most individuals, the equation now not provides up. Emotionally or economically.

So we’re staying in. And right here’s the factor: not simply staying residence and making do. I’m investing in my area. I’m pushing a trolley at Bunnings or including issues to my on-line cart, so I could make my residence much less a retreat and extra a vacation spot in itself. People are spending on the issues that make staying in really feel like a selection, not a comfort prize and that’s the essential distinction.

But it goes deeper than residence happiness. What I’m actually investing in – maybe for the primary time in a very long time – is myself.

Not simply the performative self-care of a face masks posted to Insta – OK, I’m responsible of posting the odd eye masks pic – however the quieter, extra nourishing sort. The bathtub or bathe I’ve with out speeding. The books, podcasts, information web sites and sequence I swallow complete over a complete weekend.

Yup, in fact I nonetheless love a doomscroll, however an early night time isn’t about being boring – it’s about lastly listening to what my physique and soul require to be ok with going through the following working day.

Solitude, it seems, isn’t one thing to be mounted or stuffed. Being genuinely comfy in my very own, my household’s, my sensible buddies’ and even my canine’s firm – and never simply tolerating it – is a quiet sort of confidence no quantity of social validation can replicate. Therapists have been saying this for years, and I’ve listened.

And sure, generally self-care seems precisely like what it seems like: me, the sofa, the distant, and completely no apologies. No small speak. No cut up payments. No checking my cellphone underneath the desk. Just the uncommon, underrated pleasure of an unscheduled night time by myself phrases.

For a long time, “busy” was a standing image. Constantly out, consistently on, consistently seen – that was the aspiration and positive, it nonetheless occurs if I really feel prefer it.

But if it doesn’t, there aren’t any regrets. The days or nights out I truly bear in mind and the conversations that really imply one thing not often occur in mega large noisy venues. FOMO assumes the perfect model of your life is all the time taking place elsewhere. JOMO is aware of higher.

But peace tends to reside rather a lot nearer to residence. In reality, it is likely to be proper there on my couch or on that park stroll or run, ready patiently, simply the place I left it.

Melissa Hoyer is a author and social commentator.

Get a weekly wrap of views that may problem, champion and inform your individual. Sign up for our Opinion e-newsletter.