Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) as an acronym for a social disorder has been around since 1985. However, this received a lot more attention in the last few years given the advent of the Internet and social networking that has allowed us to be connected and be recognized in ways much easier than before.
To want to feel noticed and subsequently feel important is a natural human tendency. In a way its gives us feedback on our behavior and tells us what we should do to become more recognized. However, not all of us use it to re-enforce even our own definitions of good behavior. More often than not, FOMO is the root cause of our addiction to technology and we don't even know it (look at this Mashable.com article to see if you fall into one of these categories of social sickness addictions). Hell, even the media is addicted to social media.
I have a close friend who has over 850 'friends' on Facebook and a similar number of LinkedIn contacts. When asked, my friend remembers to have made any sort of personal interaction with only about 50 of her friends over the span of the last one year. However, she at least checks her Facebook updates about 5 times every day not just to see how many may have posted a like or a comment on a social event she was part of but more to see what every one else has been up to.
Its not just social media that we are addicted to, its also all the devices that have become so ubiquitous in our daily lives today. Last year, the average US household spent close to $444 on Apple products (which was almost double the amount in the previous year) and if Apple rolls out its own HDTV, then analysts predict that this number could double by 2015. 444 in both relative and absolute terms is a large number and it amounts to almost 1% of the median US household per capita income. And there are many more devices out there than that of Apple, which means that the average US household is spending much than this amount on technology and devices every year. A lot of people I know don't buy an Apple device because they really need it but because everyone else seems to have it.
Its not just social media that we are addicted to, its also all the devices that have become so ubiquitous in our daily lives today. Last year, the average US household spent close to $444 on Apple products (which was almost double the amount in the previous year) and if Apple rolls out its own HDTV, then analysts predict that this number could double by 2015. 444 in both relative and absolute terms is a large number and it amounts to almost 1% of the median US household per capita income. And there are many more devices out there than that of Apple, which means that the average US household is spending much than this amount on technology and devices every year. A lot of people I know don't buy an Apple device because they really need it but because everyone else seems to have it.
I don't think its all bad and that the World will be ending anytime soon (read: I am not one of those suffering from depression that the 2012 event didn't happen). In fact, I am strong believer in that the World is getting better everyday. There is little doubt that social media, technology and the Internet have revolutionized business and allowed that exponential growth to happen so much quickly. See this inspirational talk from Peter Diamandis, Chairman & CEO, X Prize Foundation who tells us all about the good things we can expect.
While the World becomes a better place everyday, I still think that some of us need to step back a little with our social media, Internet and technology obsession. Like Eric Schmidt said about the Internet: "The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.” Therefore, we need to give ourselves a pause and let it play it out for a bit. In the meanwhile, we can all connect to the real world and make some more real connections like calling that 51st friend on our Facebook friend list.
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