I've been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons for about six weeks now.  Nintendo provided me with a copy of the game for review at the end of February, and I've been playing it almost every day since.  According to my Switch Lite, I have more than 120 hours of playtime remaining.  While this is less than some, it is one of the issues that I have noticed since my review.

The problem isn't that I haven't played as much as others, it's that I feel the need to compare myself in the first place, which is frustrating.  There are no explicit goals after the initial tutorial experience, which lasts approximately two weeks of daily play.  Nintendo wants players to be able to make their own decisions about what they should do.  And while I haven't put much effort into achieving a 5-star rating for my island, I'm feeling increasingly compelled to do so as I see others displaying theirs on social media.

When I wrote my review of Animal Crossing: New Horizons before the game's official release, I had no idea how much social media would influence how the game played out.  When Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS was released in 2013, social media platforms were already in existence.  However, they were not as prevalent as they should have been.  More importantly, posting a screenshot from Nintendo's dual-screen 3D portable was significantly more difficult than posting one from the Switch.  That, of course, did not deter me:

Despite the fact that the Switch makes it easier to post screenshots and videos, social media has also benefited from it. . . I don't want to use the phrase "reached its stride. "As a result, it's taking a leisurely stroll into the future.  Social media has spread to more areas of our lives than ever before.  Thus, even in Animal Crossing, it is now easier than ever to succumb to the fear of missing out on something exciting.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a unique experience.
The fear of missing out (FOMO) is not entirely external to New Horizons.  I'm not going to rehash what she said, so go read it yourself.  Although Nintendo has made some subtle additions and tweaks to the Animal Crossing formula, I believe that New Horizons feels fundamentally different from the original.

In my review, I mentioned that New Horizons allows for longer play sessions than the early game in New Leaf.  I believe this is true.  And this is generally a positive development.  There is no restriction on your ability to fish, catch bugs, travel to an island for resources, or decorate your house.  However, you can now also collect crafting materials and ACNH items, decorate your surroundings, and complete quests in the style of achievements.  Alternatively, you could attempt to obtain all of the items during a timed event, as some unfortunate individuals have done:

In addition to providing players with more things to do, the new features in New Horizons alter the rhythm of the game.  In New Leaf, players had very few options when it came to how they could "progress. "You could make improvements to your home, add to your museum, design clothing, and interact with your villagers, among other things.  The mechanics of New Leaf were simpler — and, in my opinion, worse — than those of New Horizons.

However, because everything in New Leaf was equally devoid of intrinsic rewards, many players felt they had greater freedom to forge their own path.  New Horizons, on the other hand, can frequently leave you with the impression that you could be spending your time more productively.

Of course, you could go fishing, but you shouldn't let the day pass without getting your mats ready in case you need them to get the most bells possible from a popular item in the store.  Alternatively, you could spend your time completing your daily ACNH Nook Miles Tickets challenges in order to save up money to purchase a large number of Nook Miles tickets in order to locate an island with rare loot.

Spend no more time wasting your time.
The mechanics in New Leaf were even more meaningless and boring.  But it's because of this that they were able to function well within the framework of Animal Crossing, which is supposed to be free of structure.  It's a paradoxical situation.  However, in Animal Crossing, you do things because you believe they are important, despite the fact that you know they are not.  You can still make those decisions, but in New Horizons, Nintendo has stepped in and made some of its own.  A progression path with reward loops and constant feedback was created by the program.  Moreover, for those who have grown accustomed to previous Animal Crossing games, this can be disorienting.