F.O.M.O

I have discovered a fear I've had and how to deal with it, but it's given me another one!

Remember YOLO? You Only Live Once? Now there is FOMO. Fear of missing out.

It happens when there is information overload, particularly online.

So many friends on Facebook, so many shows I haven't seen, you become occupied with keeping up on things just so you don't become out of the loop.

“I fear others are having more rewarding experiences than me,” “It is important that I understand my friends' ‘in jokes,’” and “Sometimes, I wonder if I spend too much time keeping up with what is going on.”.

If someone says "Did you see...?" and you fear you haven't...that's FOMO.

I confess, I love to cruise through the news feeds of Facebook and see what people are up to.  I like seeing pictures of their kids and photos of their holidays.  It's great to be able to share life like that!  I don't have anyone in my feed that I feel is abusing being there.  I skip most political rants lengthy religious "devotions" that seem to be cut and pasted, but for the most part I enjoy seeing the day-today stuff that's posted.

What can be a problem is when I feel like I need to post SOMETHING just to be a participant.  I feel bad if I have not "checked in" somewhere to let everyone know who I am hanging out with.  I fear that I am letting my group of online friends down by being absent.  I fear they may even wonder what I'm up to!

My criteria for posting has a few general rules.  It must be one of the following:

a)  Relateable
b)  Fun
c)  Educational
d)  Inspirational
e)  Engouraging
f)  Thought Provoking

This way I feel like I am not wasting anyone's time.  (When they are online...wasting time!)

Ironically I discovered this fear called FOMO online!

I have a new fear...missing out on more helpful studies!