Social media allows us to present a carefully curated version of ourselves to the world. When scrolling through LinkedIn, you can quickly begin to feel small compared to the sparkling professional portraits and outstanding achievements that greet you. In a piece in Inside Higher Ed, Joseph Barber reflected on this phenomenon. He writes:
“Probably a little part of all of our brains sees these updates and wonders if our career journeys match up to those of others or if we are having a similar impact in our roles. It is not so much fear of missing out (FOMO) as it is fear of living up (FOLU). Are we as good as the powerful updates professionals share on LinkedIn about their careers? The easy answer to this is yes, and I will give some quick advice on both managing any FOLU feelings and communicating your own value to others on this platform.”
