Original title: JOMO
In a society that demands the most from its citizens while depriving them of the bare minimum, to live means to say no. In contrast to FOMO, JOMO is the joy of missing out, a rebellion against the imperatives of total enjoyment, a celebration of freedom understood as leisure and relaxation. Deprived of shared utopian horizons, those who say no can only come together with a new bond: a shared weariness for this world and a desire to make it habitable again, here and now. Therefore, JOMO is not a resignation, but rather a reorientation of desire. The pleasure of losing as a way to go against the vice of winning.
“Juan Evaristo Valls Boix proposes a simple method as a way out of contemporary excess, one that we should pay attention to: do nothing, be no one, go nowhere. Is there a more subversive position today than that of a vital Bartleby?” —Elizabeth Duval
“Juan Evaristo has long sought to free himself through a philosophy of laziness and rejection. In this beautiful, horizontal, and vigorous piece of writing, which you can read in one sitting, he has succeeded, for us as well.” —Laura Llevadot
“Juan Evaristo Valls Boix seems determined to lead us to a lucid wakefulness from which life can be lived a little better.” —Roy Galán
“The book that will pull you out of the consumerist vertigo you’re stuck in... The perfect book to break free from capitalist lethargy.” —Marc Giró
"In contrast to FOMO – the fear of missing out – JOMO proposes the joy of missing out. In an age that demands we grow, perform and compete relentlessly, it champions the ability to say no. It is not about resignation or inaction. It speaks of slowing down. Of ceasing to confuse the value of a life with its productivity… Deprived of grand shared horizons, we are united by something more modest and perhaps more urgent: weariness. JOMO is not a retreat from the world, but a reorientation of desire". —Ima Sanchís, La Vanguardia
"Having established himself last year as one of the freshest, most astute and combative voices with his essay *El derecho a las cosas bellas*, Valls Boix returned in May with another critical piece dedicated to the joy of saying ‘no’: an ode to the personal satisfaction that comes, contrary to what society dictates, from missing out on things. And even more so in summer" —Eva Blanco, Vogue
"In his new essay, the thinker advocates for the right to disconnect from the culture of performance. He says that today we are expected to work with our bodies and minds, and also with our hearts… Juan Evaristo Valls Boix has become one of the most recognizable voices in critical thinking on the culture of work and constant performance… A thinker and lecturer in the Philosophy of Culture at the Complutense University of Madrid, his research centers on the concepts of idleness and rest. His writing shuns academic jargon: Kierkegaard and Britney Spears, critical theory and memes all feature naturally in his philosophy… In JOMO, he claims the ‘joy of missing out’, that impulse that prompts us to cancel plans, call off parties and crawl into bed. He does not see it as a solipsistic disconnection, but as a project of collective emancipation" — Álex Vicente, El País
"A moving essay on what we give up when we live glued to a screen and confuse productivity with life" —Andrea Toribio, Diari de Tarragona
"Faced with a society that demands we work, consume and enjoy ourselves without respite, in JOMO. The Joy of Missing Out, the philosopher asserts the right to waste time and to imagine shared spaces where it is also possible to pause” —Andrea Proenza, elDiario.es
“An essay that asserts the right to say no in a society obsessed with productivity, hyper-connectivity and the fear of being left out. The author proposes JOMO as a way to reclaim time, attention and freedom.” —RNE, El Ojo Crítico
“An essay that advocates saying ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’ to everything, in order to assert and defend the need to pause” —Beatriz Martínez, Infobae
“An essay that delves into the fear of losing, and even into the compulsion to win, in order to extol the very opposite: serenity, tranquility and the end of performance” —Joana Bonet Camprubí, La Vanguardia
“If you read this plea for dolce fare niente – for enjoying life without monitored demands – you will realize that there is a brave new world waiting out there” —Luis Argeo, Nuebo
“In this essay, the case for missing out on things acts as the perfect antidote to an era dominated by FOMO… In the face of the tyranny of always having to keep up to date, the author proposes a different form of desire: slower, freer and less dictated by algorithms. Orphaned from shared utopian horizons, we can learn to inhabit this world of expectations” —Tapas
In a society that demands the most from its citizens while depriving them of the bare minimum, to live means to say no. In contrast to FOMO, JOMO is the joy of missing out, a rebellion against the imperatives of total enjoyment, a celebration of freedom understood as leisure and relaxation. Deprived of shared utopian horizons, those who say no can only come together with a new bond: a shared weariness for this world and a desire to make it habitable again, here and now. Therefore, JOMO is not a resignation, but rather a reorientation of desire. The pleasure of losing as a way to go against the vice of winning.
“Juan Evaristo Valls Boix proposes a simple method as a way out of contemporary excess, one that we should pay attention to: do nothing, be no one, go nowhere. Is there a more subversive position today than that of a vital Bartleby?” —Elizabeth Duval
“Juan Evaristo has long sought to free himself through a philosophy of laziness and rejection. In this beautiful, horizontal, and vigorous piece of writing, which you can read in one sitting, he has succeeded, for us as well.” —Laura Llevadot
“Juan Evaristo Valls Boix seems determined to lead us to a lucid wakefulness from which life can be lived a little better.” —Roy Galán
“The book that will pull you out of the consumerist vertigo you’re stuck in... The perfect book to break free from capitalist lethargy.” —Marc Giró
"In contrast to FOMO – the fear of missing out – JOMO proposes the joy of missing out. In an age that demands we grow, perform and compete relentlessly, it champions the ability to say no. It is not about resignation or inaction. It speaks of slowing down. Of ceasing to confuse the value of a life with its productivity… Deprived of grand shared horizons, we are united by something more modest and perhaps more urgent: weariness. JOMO is not a retreat from the world, but a reorientation of desire". —Ima Sanchís, La Vanguardia
"Having established himself last year as one of the freshest, most astute and combative voices with his essay *El derecho a las cosas bellas*, Valls Boix returned in May with another critical piece dedicated to the joy of saying ‘no’: an ode to the personal satisfaction that comes, contrary to what society dictates, from missing out on things. And even more so in summer" —Eva Blanco, Vogue
"In his new essay, the thinker advocates for the right to disconnect from the culture of performance. He says that today we are expected to work with our bodies and minds, and also with our hearts… Juan Evaristo Valls Boix has become one of the most recognizable voices in critical thinking on the culture of work and constant performance… A thinker and lecturer in the Philosophy of Culture at the Complutense University of Madrid, his research centers on the concepts of idleness and rest. His writing shuns academic jargon: Kierkegaard and Britney Spears, critical theory and memes all feature naturally in his philosophy… In JOMO, he claims the ‘joy of missing out’, that impulse that prompts us to cancel plans, call off parties and crawl into bed. He does not see it as a solipsistic disconnection, but as a project of collective emancipation" — Álex Vicente, El País
"A moving essay on what we give up when we live glued to a screen and confuse productivity with life" —Andrea Toribio, Diari de Tarragona
"Faced with a society that demands we work, consume and enjoy ourselves without respite, in JOMO. The Joy of Missing Out, the philosopher asserts the right to waste time and to imagine shared spaces where it is also possible to pause” —Andrea Proenza, elDiario.es
“An essay that asserts the right to say no in a society obsessed with productivity, hyper-connectivity and the fear of being left out. The author proposes JOMO as a way to reclaim time, attention and freedom.” —RNE, El Ojo Crítico
“An essay that advocates saying ‘no’ rather than ‘yes’ to everything, in order to assert and defend the need to pause” —Beatriz Martínez, Infobae
“An essay that delves into the fear of losing, and even into the compulsion to win, in order to extol the very opposite: serenity, tranquility and the end of performance” —Joana Bonet Camprubí, La Vanguardia
“If you read this plea for dolce fare niente – for enjoying life without monitored demands – you will realize that there is a brave new world waiting out there” —Luis Argeo, Nuebo
“In this essay, the case for missing out on things acts as the perfect antidote to an era dominated by FOMO… In the face of the tyranny of always having to keep up to date, the author proposes a different form of desire: slower, freer and less dictated by algorithms. Orphaned from shared utopian horizons, we can learn to inhabit this world of expectations” —Tapas