FOMO and freelancer mental health

Who dares, wins…?

Hi hi, and happy 2025, or as some hip stuff on Instagram have been saying, twenty twenty THRIVE. Let’s see about that.

After a whirlwind few weeks filled with big news from Syria, as well as the festive down time, I think it’s the time to talk about mental health for photojournalists (and all media workers in general). In particular freelancers, which make up the majority of our ranks. Let’s use that new year optimism whilst it lasts, hoping for a better 12 months ahead.

I’ve been hooked to the recent news, as many of you likely have been too. I’ve also spoken to a lot of colleagues about how best to cover it, in an accurate and meaningful way. Navigating access, logistics, safety, and trying to garner editorial interest has needless to say, been a massive headache, and that’s without keeping abreast of the hedonistic speed of the news cycle itself.

This post isn’t trying to detract from the monumental, and positive news that one of the world’s most terrifying, brutal, and murderous regimes is over in Syria, we can all agree that’s a good thing, despite whatever may follow. This is a commentary about how the various players in our industry function at times like this.

“Am I doing my job properly?” – a question I’ve asked myself a lot recently, and I know some colleagues have too. What does that even mean? Some of us are burnt out from breaking news, and decided to pivot away into longer form features. Some have PTSD/anxiety/depression and need a break. Some don’t do breaking news regularly at all, but the dreaded FOMO gets the better of them, and they feel that they need to cover this story, even if they haven’t got an assignment, or particularly know that much about the place. Some of us aren’t willing to head into situations without some basic guarantees from photo editors.

This leads us into a small rant, about the freelancers who are often literally paying to do their job. They shell out money to put themselves somewhere, in the hope of getting an assignment or two. This carrot and stick approach does unfortunately work sometimes, which is why it’s so enticing, and continues.

Despite the few positive outcomes, there are likely more losers than winners. Think about the flocks of photojournalists who turned up in Kyiv when the Russian’s invaded, then went to Beirut when the Israeli’s started bombing them, and were recently in Damascus. This also happened in 2013 when the battle of Aleppo was underway, lots of photographers, but not many assignments.

Being at the centre of the action is obviously where photojournalists should be, and often want to be, but running around on a self-funded international chaos chase seems more of a self indulgent endeavour, than a selfless benevolent one. As much as we hear rhetoric against parachute journalism, the reality seems to be that it’s alive and well.

For reference, you might be keen to read my previous post about the cost of establishing yourself as a photojournalist here.

Now, you could frame this all as an investment in your business, but in reality it’s a little reckless, and incredibly financially unsustainable.

So, rant over, back to how this affects the mental health of freelancers.

Being on-call 24/7 is exhausting, unhealthy, unpaid, and takes a toll on everyone’s mental health. This constant buzz leads to a kind of low level trauma that builds up within us. In creeps the self doubt, competitiveness, FOMO, anger, frustration, and eventually burnout, or quitting the industry.

How can we navigate all these feelings and emotions, and aim for a healthier relationship with our careers? I’m not a shrink, but here are my personal tips:

• Reality check – the playing field isn’t level, everyone is from different backgrounds, so stop comparing yourself to your competitors/others.

• Look at the bigger perspective, and think about stories and projects that’ll have impact and longevity, rather than feeding into the noise.

• Apps – bit of a hippy one, but some of these apps for focus and relaxation are rather helpful, I use Endel.

• Therapy – the obvious one, but this is expensive. Talk to friends and loved ones instead, those working both inside and outside the media industry. For example my brother is an electrician, and when I mentioned people repeatedly paying to do their jobs, he thought it sounded utterly nuts, so that was a good reality check and perspective.

• AGAIN – stop comparing yourself to others! – We all have different identities, issues, and risks to consider. Focus on yourself, your work, and quietly get on with it, doing the best you can.

• Slow down – if you want a career spanning decades, it’s probably wise not to go berserk from the get go. Think of other ways to cover these highly saturated events.

• Avoid social media – the enemy of productivity, and often the enemy of mental health. Not a groundbreaking or original statement, but good to remind yourself that reality is usually not what you’re seeing, and not what you’ve assumed or concocted from seeing the curated social media post. PUT THE PHONE DOWN!

• Reality check – the big boys and girls covering big stories, for big publications have a team, someone dedicated to the logistics, someone for safety, someone for bureaucracy, as it should be. The reality is that none of us should be going into highly uncertain locations or situations without our employer (even a temporary one) having our backs. I’m setting the bar high, perhaps, but consider the health and safety rules for builders on a construction site anywhere in Europe. None of this would fly, and I don’t think it should. The editor and the publication have a responsibility to you if they’re employing you, even if it’s without a contract, (which is a whole other issue). After 15+ years in this job, having seen very little change regarding freelance rates or safety, I’m not going to lower my expectations.

Moving forward

It’s been a month since my last post, partly due to the holiday break, but also due to being totally consumed with news, and trying to care for my own mental wellbeing. For the year ahead, I’ve vowed to not let the work woes affect me personally as much as they often have in previous years. It’s not productive, helpful, or healthy. Hopefully this is something we can all manage.

Good luck to us all, and more posts on other issue to come soon…so stay tuned, and thanks to all of you that have supported my Substack meanders for the past 8ish months.

LAST MONTH OF MY PRINT SALE – I’m shutting the online store down at the end of Jan, so if something tickled your fancy, please get in there soon. Link HERE

Interesting links, and food for thought –

Finbarr O’Reilly’s opinion piece in The Washington Post “Why I keep taking photos the world ignores”

Channel 4’s Paraic O’Brien’s investigation into some of Syria’s mass graves – below

Moises Saman’s beautiful work in The New Yorker

My latest feature for Politico Europe, on the Turkish wine industry, with colleague Katie Nadworny.

Tips for maintaining a sustainable media career from IJNET

Podcast about surviving the media apocalypse – below

Canon’s take on 5 challenges facing young photojournalists today

A lovely piece by fellow Substacker Lily Canter, on the feelings of ‘important journalism’ – below

Getty images attack on product and corporate photographers

Take care of yourselves, until the next post 🙂

Bradley