Mastodon FOMO
Photo by David Å vihovec on Unsplash
I came to a realization recently: I'm experiencing FOMO, when it comes to Mastodon. "FOMO" is something I got over when it comes to the "old guard" social media sites1 - I stopped using the platforms as much, and didn't care so much if I didn't see each and every update. I just caught whatever came my way while I was browsing. If I needed to follow something specific (think sports) I knew where to find it.
But lately I find that I've been keeping border-line obsessive tabs on Mastodon. I realized this recently when I saw someone I follow respond to another person, and I felt compelled to look at the original post that they replied to - I had to know what the conversation was about! I also feel like I have to keep an eye on my following feed because I feel like I'm going to miss out on the latest blog post (even though the bulk of the people I follow, I also have them in my RSS reader). I think the reason for that is - I want to catch their status update with the link so I can respond to it.
In short, FOMO.
I love taking part in various conversations on Mastodon, because it doesn't feel like I'm shouting into a void. I've asked questions on Mastodon and gotten helpful responses from people I don't know. I've chimed in similarly and given answers to people I don't know. I've found new online friends on Mastodon with whom I regularly exchange little messages. Mastodon is great! But it concerns me a little that I'm starting to feel a little "addicted" to the platform.
It's come to the point even that I cheat on my "No Socials Sunday" - even though my Mastodon app is blocked from my phone, I can easily open up Firefox mobile and log in to Phanpy from there. I could grab my iPad and read there. Log on to my PC and read there. The main purpose of "No Socials Sunday" for me is to lay off my phone, and for the most part that works...and it's really up to me to define "rules" for something arbitrary like that. But I see it as a definite cheat to work around my app blocks and access a social media site through a browser. I don't think it's a big deal to use other devices in place of my phone, simply because I don't have them in my pocket at all times. But using it on my phone - that's a problem when my goal is to not use them on my phone.
I need to re-learn to let things go and be OK with missing updates from people. If there's something important (and, honestly, is anything on social media truly important?) I'll catch it the next day. Otherwise - out of sight, out of mind. I had this down pat for a while, and I've fallen off the wagon so to speak. Part of it is when my wife travels on weekends and I'm by myself Sunday - I turn off my social media app block so I can have social interactions. Well - this weekend is another one of those weekends, but this time I'm going to leave it all turned off.
Wish me luck.
💬 Community Echoes
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