FOMO Fuels Impulsive Spending Among Indonesian Youth, Overriding Islamic Principles

In Indonesia's digital age, a pervasive "Fear of Missing Out" (FOMO) is subtly fueling a massive market behavior among the youth, particularly young Muslims. This anxiety, driven by social media trends and the constant visibility of others' lifestyles, compels individuals to spend impulsively, often disregarding sound financial logic and Islamic principles of transaction (muamalah).

The pressure to maintain a certain image online, to avoid appearing "out of touch" or "behind the times," pushes young people to purchase items they do not genuinely need. This pursuit of digital validation and social prestige is leading many into a cycle of hedonism, a materialistic worldview that prioritizes fleeting physical pleasures and social status above all else. This stands in stark contrast to Islamic values, which emphasize spiritual connection with Allah and tangible positive impact on fellow humans as the true measures of a person's worth.

The article contends that the FOMO culture distorts the long-term focus on the afterlife (ukhrawi) into a short-lived pursuit of worldly desires. This constant craving for external validation erodes gratitude and sincerity, ultimately leading to psychological stress. The emphasis shifts from intrinsic value to external appearances, creating a disconnect from core Islamic teachings.

Furthermore, this trend directly contravenes Islamic economic ethics, specifically the concepts of "israf" (excessiveness) and "tabzir" (wastefulness). While Islamic finance provides guidelines for balanced spending, prioritizing essential needs (dharuriyyat), followed by secondary needs (hajiyyat), and then tertiary wants (tahsiniyyat), FOMO culture inverts this pyramid. The pursuit of social prestige, a tertiary want, leads individuals to neglect rational financial calculations, pushing them into prohibited forms of spending. This excessive consumption, even of permissible goods, or hoarding items simply to follow trends, exemplifies israf, while wasting resources on such pursuits constitutes tabzir.