THE FOMO IS REAL
Maybe it’s the curious entrepreneur in me or maybe it’s the social butterfly thats deep within my introverted shell. Either way, I hate not being in the know. When I stew on it a little more it might be my lack of control. But I’ll leave that deep dive to my therapist.
For those just tuning in, I’m exploring the idea of what life would be like without a smartphone. As I detailed in my first post, this new way of life could be a solution in creating time and space for what I truly desire. I’m not going to detail what those desires are right now, but I am going to break down what we all might be feeling: the separation anxiety if we had to let go of the precious computer that fits inside our pocket.
Here are my main areas of concern if I didn’t have a smartphone:
A KILLER CAMERA
Remember the days when we carried around a camera that was a separate device from our cell phone? I bought my first point and shoot camera in college. It was a whole 8 megapixels. The latest iPhone models are 12 megapixels, not to mention the killer Portrait view. If I went back to a T9 flip phone, I would lose that ease of taking beautiful photos. The easy editing tools, the filters that make me look like cute animals... so many things I love but could totally live without.
NAVIGATION / MAPS
This is one thing I’m super concerned about. I’ve been in Southern California for about 18 months now and other than my route to work and my favorite coffee shops, I have no idea where I’m going. I unfortunately can’t blame that struggle on my new west coast surroundings - I just suck at knowing where I’m going. My husband likes to share stories about how I walk through a store and can’t even remember where the door is. If I can’t navigate through a building how can I get around without my turn by turn navigation in his terrible traffic jam that is California? I got by without it in my teens, could I do it again?
I should be ashamed for the energy spent on this social media time suck. I scroll aimlessly before bed, waiting in traffic, in the bathroom - it’s embarrassing. I try to justify all the time wasted by saying “hey I get to see what’s going on back at home in Chicago” or “some businesses do promotions there”. Really, I’m just avoiding things like socializing in person, reading books or (a foreign concept as of lately) working out. Losing Instagram would strengthen the social anxiety, or FOMO, but again – it’s another thing that I enjoy with could totally live without.
