In this article written by Jenna Wortham, she is exploring the idea of the fear of missing out and how it affects us now. Are we so dependent these days that all of us who are in the social network world actually undergoes the fear of missing out issue? Do those of us who are addicted to our Facebook and twitter pages feel that if we don’t log on to our homepage for several days that we are going to be missing out on the social world and about what is taking place in our friends or followers life? I think that this much easier said than done because of all of the technology in the world today. Maybe if smartphones did not have applications on our phones for Facebook and Twitter, this would be much easier to do, but now that we are always checking our Facebook on our cell phones, I think that it is much easier to get caught up in the fear of missing out world. We always want to see what new statuses friends posted on their wall, and to see if they added any new interesting pictures for our viewing pleasure.
Maybe we are just too addicted to the social media world and always need to be in touch with that world. Jenna Wortham suggested ideas that we can do to address this situation such as hiding your phone, limiting time on social networks on the weekend, and finally to put your cell phone on silent for long periods of time. I for one actually currently do put my phone on silent and keep it far from me for several hours during my day to avoid seeing my phone blinking because I have a facebook notification or something.
How do you handle the FOMO?
I agree, I used to get the feeling that If I don’t get into my Facebook to check out what my friends are up to, I was missing out on something, but as strange as it may sound, that was just at the beginning. After learning of privacy issues, I’ve been more cautious on my postings, likes etc.
So, these days I feel that I am more aware of the psychological consequences of going into Facebook frequently and I minimize it as much as possible. If I need to communicate with anybody, and for whatever reason I do it through Facebook, I always send the message private, to minimize the interaction from others and get between whatever the topic of my message is. By doing so, it makes me not get so involved, expecting responses of others or checking out on others social interactions.
The thing is that, at least in my case, I have notice that the more I do something the more I want to do it, in the event that I get some gratification from it. So I have to be careful, or I’ll end up addicted Facebook as many others. Additionally; when I found myself interacting through Facebook, and for whatever reason I did not get to it I would get a feeling of isolation and loneliness. It is very important to be present and aware of the quality of interactions with others. There is nothing wrong with viewing pictures of our friends, but when we feel left out or that we are missing something, that may be a warning sign.
That was a very interesting article. I never thought about that I could miss out something if I didn’t go or could not go on Facebook, or other sides. Well, it is easy for me. I am not good to handle computers. Actually, it took me two months just to find out how this blog works.
So, I don’t know how people have time to be addicted to Facebook or Twitter etc.? Don’t they have a life?? Work, school, family??? Where they get so many hours to be on the network? What they can do on Facebook for hours? I mean it takes maybe a half hour to check the messages and all the comments.
My sister used to be on Facebook a lot, then one day she stopped. When I asked her why, she told me she could spend her time more meaningful than checking all the silly comments that others put up. Well, she was right. Instead of reading what happened to x or z today, we can read a book or a newspaper.
I do not want to pull down the quality of Facebook or Twitter, but these sides really not teaching us anything. The problem is that, today is cool to be on Facebook, or Twitter. Especially, if you are very young. My 12 years old cousin is on Facebook and she said that if you are not on it you are not popular in class. There is a pressure on these young kids to be on the net. However, I feel older people get to choose how much time they want to spend.
I give an exception to sell phones. I never ever turn off my sell phone. When people call me or want to contact me there is a reason why they do that. I do not think that I am important, but I want to be available. Maybe, people should not have internet on their sell phones. Nowadays, internet is so available, stores, fast food restaurants, even in parks, no wonder people spend much more time on social networking. If it were not so available…… that would be a different story.
Unless a member of the Facebook, or any social network community feels the need to be apart or follow everything throughout their time on these sites, I don’t see what they can miss out on.The article states:
“I maintain that the good outweighs the bad. I like having the window into the lives of my friends enough to swallow any feelings of inadequacy that might arise because of it. But I do think that we are still learning how to process the constant flow of information that is now being piped directly into our computers and smart-phones — not to mention the range of mixed emotions that come with that.”
According to Erving Goffman’s piece that we discussed in class,there is an audience, as well as a front stage and backstage.Since the beginning of social networking, I feel their is no such thing as a front stage/back stage, I believe they intertwine. As you mentioned in your post, before the influential impact of these sites, we once relied on the telephone, landlines that is.To the least bit of our concern did the emergence of the internet usage mattered.
Throughout my experience online, I still have the same views toward these sites.However, I manage to stick to specific sites and not let it control my life.For the year that I lived on campus, I was amazed by the uploading of pictures amongst my fellow classmates.For the most part there was one main photographer at every party I attended, and students would bombard his websites, upload the pictures and comment on each other pictures as if they weren’t at the party.I often times tried to understand if we, as a campus lived for each others lifestyles.
I believe some individuals feel excited to what other peoples lives consist of.So yes the FOMO exist, however we have to know priorities in life and what is and should be important.Other than these sites that just do more harm then good, mentally and physically.
This article is very intresting because social media has played a major role in my life. I used face book as a way that I can reconnect with old friends, stay connected to current friends and family. I post pictures of me, my friends and my family. My face book also allows me to get invitations to events and remember the birthdays of many of my friends. It keeps me up to date on the lives of my friends as well as they will be getting up dated on mine. I have face book on my cell phone and my ipod. The article discusses that the over use of face book can make you feel like you are missing out if your dont use it. To an extent I feel that is true. I check my face book page often through out the day and I do feel like I am missing out if I dont.
Face book and other social sites can be very addicting however if it does not interfere with the things that you have to do I don’t think that it is a bad thing.
I also used to think that if I don’t use social networking sites, such as Facebook, I am missing out. When my group of friends first started using it, they would say something along the lines of “did you see that video of blahblah on Facebook,” “how could you not know about it? It was on Facebook,” or “look what blahblah post on Facebook.” I felt sometimes there is an unseen pressure to sign up for social networking site since everyone is talking on it and about it. No one wants to feel left out of the conversation or did not understand what was going on. Now that I had been through that, I don’t think I am missing out on anything to be checking every day on the site. There is a lot of stuff that people post on Facebook, but when people talk about in real life, they would tell and explain to everyone regardless of already posting on Facebook. They would also refer you to their post or picture by showing you on their phone or computer anyways.
It is easy to get caught up in social networking and be addicted to it. There should be some limits to how often you are using it to not affect your life or your priorities to check on status every day.