UCAP Blog

FOMO

I was recently  introduced to the concept of FOMO by my wife.  “FOMO?”    

“You know, FOMO:  Fear Of Missing Out!”    

Hmm…What had prompted her to mention this was the sight of me, glued to my Droid X, standing frozen in place in the middle of the living room.  (I’m pretty sure she perceives my smart-phone to be some kind of mind-control device.)  Hey, I can stop any time I want!  Just let me check email first…   

 Anyway, the FOMO phenomenon is getting a lot of press recently. It’s described as an apparent side-effect of the social media explosion – one that keeps addicted users constantly checking their social media sites out of fear that they might miss something. This of course results in them missing out on the world around them instead - but hey, that’s only meatspace after all.   

 Now, what my wife may not understand is that I wasn’t standing there, barely breathing, pale in the glow of my miniature-portal-to-everything just so I could find out which of my high-school classmates had gained another grandchild.  Nor was I eagerly doing whatever it is one does with Google+.   

  Nope. I was mining my stream of #OSH11 tagged tweets.  I was following Oshkosh.   

 I was checking out reports of airplanes seen, parties attended, old friends met again, and new friends made.  I was paging through photostreams, reading blog posts, and queuing up daily podcasts for the next day’s commute.  I was trying desperately to fill the void of not being there by hanging out at the distant, laggy end of a narrowband electronic version of the greatest aviation event of the year – and it wasn’t working.  Good, yes – but not the same.   

Seaplane Base, OSH10

Last year was my first trip to AirVenture, but one taste was all it took to make an addict out of me.  Now, twelve months later and unable to attend, I find it hard to think about anything else.   

 No, I don’t suffer from FOMO. When it comes to this time of year, IKIMO!   

  I Know I’m Missing Out!