FOMO in the Exponential Age

We fear missing out, because missing out could mean (social) death. In an exponential age, we fear missing out exponentially.

We are children of a world that is complex, dynamic and mostly imperceptible. We are sensing organisms and our survival requires that we know what are threats and what are opportunities. Processing information from the environment is vital. We have evolved to filter and triage information from the physical environment of grasslands and forests in social environments of small groups.

Our environment is increasingly mediated by social platforms.

So processing information increasingly means processing social signals from people well-outside of our immediate physical and cultural environments. In social space,  we don't have the same fast-trigger cues that would be expected in the real world of trees and tribe. Cues that allow us to filter out the relevant from the irrelevant.

On social media, we tend to look at everything.

Every signal is a potential opportunity to tap into exponential growth. Deciding what to ignore then becomes life and death. Becomes a toss up between growth and stagnation.

But it's worse. If others are growing exponentially, and you're growing but only growing linearly then you are not only stagnating. You are moving comparatively backwards. This is the Red Queen Effect on steroids. Fear of missing out, becomes fear of being left entirely behind.

An understandable fear. But an unsustainable one.

Filtering then is the skill of the 21st century.

Some of this can be designed up-front. We can curate our information sources and take an active role in training the platforms to our preferences.

Our attention is too valuable to passively rely entirely on the algorithms of others.

Nor is it sufficient to solve this through curation alone. Most of what even esteemed others say online is not relevant to us. It is mere distraction.

We must be able to quickly gauge if there's something in any given social signal worth paying attention to. Fast-filtering that will immediately allow us to determine if this is worth paying attention to. That requires deliberate practice.

It is a skill worth cultivating.