Dachshund Desperately Struggling To Stay Awake Delights: ‘FOMO’

In a heartwarming TikTok video, a dachshund puppy named Winnie was so afraid of missing out on spending time with his owner that he tried desperately to stay awake during their ride home after an exhausting day, only to fail miserably.

The viral video, shared on Wednesday under the username @meetminiwinnie, shows Winnie sitting by the edge of his crate, in the passenger seat of the car. He is trying hard to keep his eyes open and enjoy the car ride together, before allowing himself to fall back and take a much-needed nap.

“POV [point of view]: you’re exhausted but have major FOMO,” reads a caption shared with the video.

FOMO, or fear of missing out, is the fear of not doing enough or not being enough, and it is becoming increasingly more prevalent, especially among teenagers and young adults, mostly due to social-media usage among other reasons.

The Cleveland Clinic’s website describes this fear as the perception that everyone else around you, including your friends and family, are living a better life than you, doing all sorts of exciting things and making you feel left out of the fun.

While everyone can experience FOMO at anytime, people who use social media often are more exposed than those who don’t, simply because seeing pictures or videos of other people doing something exciting can be triggering.

Beside causing emotional distress, this fear is also known to cause physical symptoms too, including stomach tension and nausea, headaches, body aches and pain, heart palpitations and increased heart rate. It can also lower your self esteem and increase intrusive thoughts.

To deal with FOMO, Psychology Today says you first need to accept the fact that sometimes you will miss out on some fun times, and there is nothing you can do about it. Taking a break from social media and prioritizing things such as reading or spending time with friends can help you feel better.

You can also set your device to limit the amount of time you are allowed to spend on certain apps or sites that may make FOMO worse for you, or even delete social-media apps if needed. Getting a full digital detox can also help.

However, if the problem persists, it is important that you see an mental-health expert, that can help you manage the situation through therapy.

The video quickly went viral on social media, getting viewers from across TikTok. It has so far received over 3.7 million views and more than 528,000 likes on the platform.

One use, r Drtracybibbs commented: “Me … watching TikTok until I drop my phone.”

Philipp_3er posted: “Me when Netflix asked ‘Are you still watching?”

Tom Grabo added: “Little guy is fighting for his life lol [laugh out loud].”

Newsweek reached out to @meetminiwinnie for comment via email. We could not verify the details of the case.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our “Pet of the Week” lineup.