Friends, I’ve called you here today to confirm something that you probably already know about me. I freely admit that it is true: Fear Of Missing Out, aka FOMO, is not a problem for me.
I’ve been outside of so many things in my life that not knowing what’s going on in my social media circles does not bother me. I try to keep up, but there are days when I *gasp* don’t go online at all. [Usually Monday, often Saturday.]
I miss out.
On the other hand, I do suffer from something that I have yet to see acronym-ed so I will take this opportunity to create one to explain my social media problem.
My worry is: Fear Of Appearing Rude, henceforth & hereinafter known as FOAR. That is what concerns me.
Because I consider communication to be a two-way street, I take my side of the street seriously. Maybe too seriously, but that’s how I roll. And as such I fear that someone will take my slow response to an email or a blog comment or a tweet as an insult.
Especially if that someone is a person who does suffer from FOMO.
So what do you think, my blogging kith & kin? Am I worried about nothing? Or is FOAR another genuine made-up social media psychosis?
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 
Summer is coming! Many will be MIA or 2L8ze to keep up. I won’t be offended, if you won’t..(RC yawns, but don’t be offended – you know what she’s like. Molly is the friendly social one – she says “Go outside and play)
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philmouse, thank you for understanding my dilemma. I never intend to appear disinterested when I duck out of social media for a day or two, but I fear that might be the impression I give. There’s a balance here somewhere, but in the mean time, while I’m looking for it, I’m going to follow Molly’s advice. She’s a smart one.
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I suffer from the same…but luckily there’s Molly: the cure for social media.
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I don’t suffer from FOMO either but I can connect with your FOAR. In my case, my FOAR is trumped by FOAS (stupid) and FOOR (over-reacting). I often just tag a blog post in my feed as unread and come back to it later. And it’s quite rare for me to respond to a comment on my blog quickly. Maybe that’s a mistake. But I’m not online all the time – I’m actually trying to spend less time online and more time in the real world. And quick responses, for me, tend to come out pretty smart-ass. Taking time helps to counter my ITIFTIRA. (I think I’m funnier than I really am)
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Zazzy, your acronyms are a delight! It’s not that I need to know everything that’s going on in my social media circles, my difficulty is that I worry about inconveniencing someone by being slow to respond. It all comes back to good manners, ‘ya know?
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I worry that people will think I’m ignoring them, or that I don’t think what they said was interesting. It’s manners, too, but I think probably everyone is better off if I wait for a while. 🙂
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Much ado about nothing. People come and go, read and don’t read, comment and don’t comment. Sometimes we’re sad because we miss their witty remarks. Today a blogger that was MIA for about 2 months has returned so that is cause for celebration. I wouldn’t worry. We all do what we can.
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kate, that’s a very pragmatic approach to it all. I like that. I do try to keep up with my social media circles, but sometimes real life drags me away. 😉
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It’s ok if its’ good stuff or fun stuff!
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Indeed it is.
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I suffer from FOCA…. Fear Of Crazy Acronyms….
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evilsquirrel23, lol. Of course you do. I apologize for creating yet another crazy acronym with the potential to bother you. My bad.
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While I try to respond to everyone, I hope my occasional lapses will seem more “she has a lot going on right now” than “she’s a rude bitch.” There’s a limit to what we can do.
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Andra, you’ve nailed the essence of this problem. I do get busy & wander away from the internet, but fear that my social media inattentiveness will be misconstrued. However, after reading all these comments I’m learning that it won’t be which makes me feel better about suffering from FOAR.
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Real life should always trump the on-line, in my opinion. Face time is way more important than screen time. That said, I do suffer from a bit of FOAR.
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Margaret, it’s a difficult thing to know how to handle. Online relationships are important to me, but like you said real life trumps virtual. And because online there are no body language clues to let ppl know that you’re sincere, I worry about FOAR.
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I try to err on the side of the Benefit Of The Doubt. I know I never intentionally blow anyone off. If I’ve taken a long time, it’s due to IRLC. (Intervening Real Life Circumstances)
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nance, your acronym is perfect. I feel like we all need to have a that “tattooed” on our blogs somewhere. I get that what I’m worrying about here doesn’t even cross the mind of 90% of all bloggers, but I it does lurk on the edge of my mind whenever I’m slow to respond to any social media communication interaction.
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