For those over 30, who are not familiar with the term, FOMO is an acronym for “fear of missing out” and is widely used by social media users and more often than not, by a younger, millennial generation. For its users FOMO is Internet slang, and its rise and use in pop culture is mostly thanks to the numerous social media platforms we now have at our disposal. Tweets, Instagram pictures or regular Facebook updates from parties, exclusive celebrity events or exotic holiday destinations are what might spark that pang of envy – and therefore, FOMO – for those living vicariously through other people’s social media feeds.
Dion Chang in conversation with BizRadio’s Grant Jansen
Podcast | Click HERE to listen
It’s around this time of the year when we ask ourselves why we didn’t plan that mid-year break, as we watch those who have the means and foresight, come back to work with their batteries recharged, not to mention their irritatingly smug expressions. When you’re experiencing – the now very real – mid year burn out, the reaction is not so much FOMO, but rather pure, unadulterated, jealousy. It is at this stage of the year when you realise that, thanks to technology, you’ve not only worked the equivalent of twelve months in the last six, but that you still have another six months to go, on an energy tank that’s already running on empty.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I’ve taken it upon myself to coin a new acronym to help me get through the rest of the year. I call it ECR: emotional commitment rationing.
My theory goes like this: we’re not only dealing with limited energy reserves, but also an unrelenting bombardment of new information channels and new social media platforms, which brings with it more time and effort required to understand and master the new technologies. This just simply spreads your capacity to emotionally commit to something new – like a 13 part TV series – very thin. We have reached a crossroads where we have to decide where our emotional energy is going to be best spent, so in essence ECR is a very strict diet of convergence. Find something that really interests you, and commit to it wholeheartedly. If the emotional connection is not there, then ditch it, and FOMO be damned.
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