AILSA CHANG, HOST:
If you've ever taken a day off school as a kid because you were sick, you may remember how it usually goes. At first, you're thinking, yes, I get to watch TV. In the morning, I get to watch all the cartoons, or, in my case, I get to watch reruns of "The Love Boat." But then it starts to sink in that the house is quiet, a little too quiet. And that is when your mind starts to really wander, right? You start wondering what everyone else is doing without you. Well, in a new picture book called "A Day Off School," Oliver Jeffers and Illustrator Kevin Waldron tell the story of Herbie, how his case of the sniffles spirals into fears that he may be missing pirate invasions, monster attacks and who knows what else? Oliver Jeffers joins us now. Welcome, welcome.
OLIVER JEFFERS: Thank you very much for having me on.
CHANG: Wait, so first, Oliver, were you that kid, too? Like, was a sick day essentially a bonus day for you, at least at the start of the day?
JEFFERS: Oh, I mean, completely. Now, they were rare for us - I had three brothers - because our mother was a nurse, so she knew when we were pulling the wool over her eyes, so it was very difficult to actually earn a day off. You had to genuinely be sick.
CHANG: She'd actually test you, like, with the thermometer in your mouth or something.
JEFFERS: Yeah.
CHANG: (Laughter).
JEFFERS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was on to all the tricks.
CHANG: Well, you know, this book, even though it's based on a little kid staying home from school, it's really about something that I feel people of all ages can relate to, and that's FOMO - right? - the fear of missing out.
JEFFERS: Yeah.
CHANG: Why were you interested in writing a children's book about FOMO?
JEFFERS: Well, I think what prompted me to write this is because this did genuinely happen to me, although not quite in the order that it happens in the book. I did get a day off. I remember just lying on the sofa and duvet came down and watching cartoons, had some books, was doing some coloring in.
CHANG: Wait, how old are you at this point?
JEFFERS: I think I'm maybe 8 years old.
CHANG: Oh, I thought you were talking about recently this happened to you. OK, go ahead.
JEFFERS: No, no, no, no. This - yeah, no this is a long time ago.
CHANG: So watching cartoons...
JEFFERS: My memory isn't that bad. Watching cartoons, making some art. No, it didn't really occur to me. I think my mind did wander to what homework I was - or what work I was avoiding in school and kind of secretly feeling pleased for myself. But the next day I went in, everybody was just full of gossip of this dog that had got - had broken into the school and was running around the corridor.
CHANG: Oh.
JEFFERS: And I just my - you know, I kind of came in thinking I had won over on everybody, and my jaw dropped. I was crestfallen that they had all had a better time than I had.
CHANG: You missed out on the event of the year.
JEFFERS: I did miss out on the event of the year, so the FOMO was real and was justified. And it always sort of sat with me at the back of my head, that kind of feeling of, you know, you think you're doing something that's your best option, but then when you start to imagine what other people are doing - and I think it's a curse of the modern age in a lot of ways.
CHANG: Totally. And especially when it sets in, this feeling of FOMO, when it sets in in adulthood, it can be really corrosive. Like, I found that even though I was reading the story about Herbie the kid, I was thinking about having FOMO in adulthood, how a lot of times adults are always comparing themselves, where they are in life with where others are in life. You're worried if you're living your...
JEFFERS: Yeah.
CHANG: ...Best life instead of appreciating what you do have. And it made me wonder, do you think the nature of FOMO changes as you get older?
JEFFERS: I mean, I think it probably does to some degree. I think it starts to go away when you get older still. 'Cause, you know, I remember when we moved to New York, every night in New York City, there is something fantastic going on.
CHANG: Absolutely.
JEFFERS: So if you look up from your desk at all, there is about five different options of something brilliant that you could be and feel like you should be doing. And, of course, you can't do them all, but there is this notion, then, especially when you are comparing yourselves to others that it's - what is it? - comparison is the thief of joy...
CHANG: Yes.
JEFFERS: ...Or happiness equals reality minus expectation. And I think you settle into that more as you get older still, and you just - I think my FOMO is reverse FOMO. When I'm out at a concert or something, I kind of think - was like, I could be at home sitting reading a book. That's...
CHANG: It's another version of Herbie taking the day off from school.
(LAUGHTER)
JEFFERS: Yeah. Reverse FOMO - instead of doing something fantastic, I just want to be at home.
CHANG: Yeah. Oh. Well, how do you stay grounded and present when you feel FOMO coming on these days?
JEFFERS: Yeah, I think it is a reality check. I think you just have to remember that what other people are sharing online is definitely a polished, edited, almost made up version of themselves. They're not posting the headache they had or the fact that they, you know, couldn't sleep last night or any of the bad things. It's sort of - it's this polished version of how people want to be seen rather than how they actually are. When you remember that, I think it becomes a little easier. And also, it's just - it's exhausting.
CHANG: Yeah. Oliver Jeffers is a visual artist and author. His new picture book with Illustrator Kevin Waldron is called "A Day Off School." Thank you so much for speaking with us, Oliver.
JEFFERS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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