Exploring "JOMO"
In my most recent weight update podcast, I mentioned the concept of JOMO – the Joy Of Missing Out. It’s the opposite of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), and the general idea is about being comfortable with unplugging and taking time for yourself away from the constant barrage of notifications.
I was first introduced to the idea through a podcast called JOMOCast. It was an interview with Aaron Reynolds, the creator of Effin Birds and Swear Trek. In it Aaron talked about how he doesn’t want his phone notifications to dictate his life (I’m paraphrasing), and that he has decided to check his notifications on a schedule and when HE wants to. He also mused on the idea of leaving his headphones out on his commutes to enjoy his own thoughts – an idea he stumbled upon when he forgot his headphones one day.
JOMO (the joy of missing out) is the emotionally intelligent antidote to FOMO and is essentially about being present and being content with where you are at in life.
JOMO: The Joy of Missing Out, Kristen Fuller, M.D. Psychology Today
I love listening to podcasts, so I wouldn’t go to that extreme – but there are certainly times when I opt for background music that I don’t focus on instead of the constant barrage of voices talking to me. Sometimes it’s too much. But the idea that caught my attention was the idea of blocking out notifications.
Even before I heard about “JOMO”, I have been tweaking my notification settings between my phone and my smartwatch. I’ve long since turned off social media notifications from my watch – they only show up on my phone, so I only see them when I open my phone. I was getting annoyed at notifications coming to my watch, which would interrupt what I was doing only to find that it was about someone who liked or commented on something. Not really something I need to see right away, as opposed to a direct message or email.
But “breaking news” alerts have bothered me for a while, especially when news outlets send even the most trivial items as “breaking news”. The idea that Reynolds talked about – leaving those alerts for me to discover on my own time – was what convinced me to turn off virtually ALL smartwatch notifications (except for email, messages, and a few select apps where notifications are useful) and switch my Gmail inbox to the “default” style. This sends non-urgent emails to separate inboxes that don’t notify you – so newsletters, shipping notifications, c, etc. aren’t pushed to my phone. So far, I haven’t missed anything important.
Another thing I’ve done at work this week was adding in some blocked off time in the mornings, for half an hour, to specifically go through my email inbox. I set my “status” as busy, and reserve that time to address anything important and try not to take phone calls. I wish I could get Windows to turn off my notifications automatically, so sometimes I neglect to do that and get distracted from my purpose (clearing my inbox).
I haven’t noticed many tangible benefits to trying out this new “JOMO lifestyle”, but it’s still early on in this experiment. What’s certain is that I haven’t experienced anything negative enough to make me go back to how I functioned previously, so I’d say that in itself is a positive result.
I think my next steps are probably converting some of my phone notifications to “deliver quietly”, because if I have my phone at my desk I still notice those vibrations and my instinct is still to check my phone to see what they are. Since that takes a little more time to go through my notification settings and make some conscious decisions, I’m putting it off for now.
What do you think? Is the Joy Of Missing Out something that would improve your own life?