I’ve realized one very simple fact about why I kept my smartphone for so long before shutting it down three days ago in favor of a dumb phone: misplaced FOMO.
The Fear Of Missing Out is real. But what am I afraid of missing out on?
The truth is, after ten years using a smartphone, with all its apps and notifications and instant access to everybody else’s life, I was missing out on, well, nothing.
Not nothing nothing, but nothing as in the virtual facade kind of nothing. The nothing life that isn’t your real life, but your IG life, your FB post life, your Snapchat life, even your LinkedIn life.
You know what kind of life that is?
A 2D life.
I’m leaving the virtual world, not completely, but as completely as I can given the demands of my job (requires social media presence) and family (most life across the ocean which requires WhatsApp, Skype, etc).
My FOMO on things virtual is being replaced by a FOMO of missing out on the following:
the twinkle in my daughter’s eyes as she shows me her latest drawing
the curious look my puppy gives when I look at him long enough in the eyes
the reflection of the sun hitting that corner of the table in the late afternoon creating a geometric pattern of light and shadow
Greg the mailman walking by and waving hello, and my return wave and smile
the misplaced toys sitting on the kitchen counter reminding me of my children
So I’m afraid of missing out on real life. The virtual life will forget me within a second of my departure.
I don’t miss it either, and I’m not afraid anymore of what I was never missing in the first place: nothing much.