FOMO vs JOMO: Why Joy of Missing Out Matters in the Age of AI Hype

Did you know FOMO has an opposite? FOMO — Fear of Missing Out — is that familiar feeling that somewhere out there something more exciting, important, or valuable is happening, and you’re missing it. In the age of AI, this feeling has never been more intense.

FOMO in the Age of AI: Everyone Seems to Be Running

Everyone around you is vibe-coding, building armies of AI agents, making those agents create incredible things overnight — and everyone is running. It feels like you should be running too.

And it’s not just AI. Social media, trends, technology — the world around us changes so fast that we always seem to be falling behind.

Meet JOMO: FOMO’s Quiet Antonym

But it turns out, FOMO has a sibling — an antonym, actually. JOMO: Joy of Missing Out. The joy of what you’ve deliberately skipped. You consciously pass on an event, turn off social media, choose silence, rest, or your own projects. And instead of guilt or fear, you feel something closer to satisfaction.

The Fine Line Between FOMO and JOMO

Of course, there’s a fine line between running faster just to stay in place and doing things out of pure FOMO.

It’s also important not to confuse JOMO with laziness. JOMO is about awareness. You make fewer impulsive comparisons and more deliberate choices.

Why FOMO vs JOMO Matters in AI and Computing

JOMO looks like an interesting answer to all the surrounding noise — and for some fields, it’s the only necessary answer.

While some are chasing hype and trying to make every new LLM solve any math problem thrown at it, others are quietly building a boring foundation — like Lean — for all of AI in mathematics.

There’s a strong hypothesis that the second approach is where real, lasting value will come from over the span of decades.

So which side are you on?