Charlie Skinners scary moment of realisation – “Over the half term break my sister and I took the kids to Legoland. We had an amazing time, took a bunch on pics, bought some bricks, made some memories (job done). While we were there my sis took a lovely pic of me and my son getting soaked on a ride, very spontaneous with great looks on our faces. I asked her to send it to me, “absolutely” she said.
That evening I’d phoned to check she’d got home ok and reminded her to send me the pics, “oh yes I forgot I’ll do it this evening” she said. By the following morning I still hadn’t received it. At lunchtime I called her and asked again, “so sorry I’m working today, I’ll definitely send it later” she said. By 5pm she hadn’t sent it and I was irritated. Why was I irritated? Not because I wanted to look lovingly at the photo and recall the good times, not because I wanted to print the photo to keep as a treasured memory, no, it was because I wanted to post it on Facebook and she was holding me up! Now that is scary!! Considering I only joined Facebook in 2019 this is the fastest dependency to a phone app I have ever experienced (apart from CandyCrush possibly).
Not only that but when I posted my pics on Facebook without that photo, my sister actually messaged me to apologise for forgetting!!
How has this ‘social’ media platform created addiction for me and guilt for my sister in one fell swoop, I wondered? This prompted me to look into FOMO (and social comparison), its affects, impacts and how we can make better use of the technological tools available to us, moving from FOMO to JOMO. This TechTalk by Julie Ardanda – Android User Researcher at Google explains a bit more about it and how Google are working to support better android usage decisions – Digital Wellbeing – Understanding your tech usage
After this moment of realisation I have not removed Facebook from my phone. I have found it a great social tool over lockdown and I have reconnected with friends and family around the world which has really supported my wellbeing. However I have modified my behaviour. My first action has been to mute my social media notifications and remove the apps from the front page of my phone with an aim to reducing my viewing time to once a week (I’ll let you know how I get on)”
Most tech companies are taking some social responsibility for tech usage and are now providing information (and more technology) to help us make better choices and use of our tech. Other information you may be interested in to understand your online usage:
Truth and tech – how tech affects children
JOMO quiz – just for fun, this has no clinical backing