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Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

FOMO, Digital Dementia, and Our Dangerous Experiment

Author:     LARRY DOSSEY, MD
Source:     Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing
Publication Date:     26-Dec-13
 Link: FOMO, Digital Dementia, and Our Dangerous Experiment
Stephan:   SR is late today because yesterday at 3:15 thanks to high winds that blew down a tree that took down a power line we lost power, and it did not return until 3:15 this morning, when it announced itself with the blaring of the television in the kitchen, that had not been turned off. As it happened my Kindle battery and my phone battery both ran down as well. Suddenly I was disconnected. I ended up re-reading an old paper copy of William Gibson's novel Neuromancer (1984). It seemed appropriate. The experience made me think about how much our lives have become dominated by electronic devices, and that put in mind of my good friend Larry Dossey's essay, presented here. It also made me think about the nature of other kinds of connections, and that led me to think about Larry's excellent new book, which I recommend, One Mind, about the ultimate net connection we all share.

Silence is God’s first language; everything else is a poor translation.

-Thomas Keating1

We have all seen them: the chic couple in a restaurant passionately thumbing their smartphones while ignoring one another, each cocooned in his or her private world. Then there is the etiquette buster at the movies in the seat in front of us, who ignores the prohibition of texting while his smartphone’s retina-scorching screen blinds us. And there is the annoying person in line at Starbucks who cannot stop messaging long enough to keep the line moving. All these individuals have something in common: They may be suffering from FOMO.

FOMO or FoMO is an acronym for ‘fear of missing out.” It appeared in the Urban Dictionary as word of the day on April 14, 2011.2 FOMO is considered a form of social anxiety-a compulsive concern that one might miss an opportunity for social interaction, a novel experience, or some other satisfying event, often aroused by posts seen on social media sites.3, 4 FOMO reflects a worry that friends may be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent.

FOMO Facts

Research psychologist, Andrew Przybylski of the University of Essex, and colleagues3 at University of California-Los Angeles and University of Rochester […]

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