diff --git a/posts/fear-of-having-missed-out.md b/posts/fear-of-having-missed-out.md index fdc47a3..8678a1a 100644 --- a/posts/fear-of-having-missed-out.md +++ b/posts/fear-of-having-missed-out.md @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ So I recently got into watching slice-of-life anime, and was hunting around onli That's not to say it's a bad anime, or even that they didn't title it right. The anime is not the focus of this article. This irrational feeling I just had, of feeling like an unwelcome intruder in a setting which is supposed to be welcome, is. It's what I call the "fear of having missed out". -It sounds very similar to the common term FOMO, "fear of missing out", a peer-pressure-like anxiety people get to try something new (let's say a new game X) just because their other people are doing it and having fun. The fear of having missed out (FOHMO?) evokes a similar feeling, but has completely the opposite effect. When I feel this feeling, I feel like there was a window of opportunity, where all these people started enjoying X, and I missed that window and now I'm too late. Now, if I start trying to get into X, I feel like I'll feel continuously excluded by the people who *are* enjoying X, and end up not having fun myself. So, I don't even bother to try X, because of the fear that I have already missed out on it. +It sounds very similar to the common term FOMO, "fear of missing out", a peer-pressure-like anxiety people get to try something new -- let's say, a new game called X -- just because their other people are playing X and having fun doing so. The fear of having missed out (FOHMO?) evokes a similar feeling, but has completely the opposite effect. When I feel this feeling, I feel like there was a window of opportunity, where all these people started enjoying X, and I missed that window and now I'm too late. Now, if I start trying to get into X, I feel like I'll feel continuously excluded by the people who *are* enjoying X, and end up not having fun myself. So, I don't even bother to try X, because of the fear that I have already missed out on it. And it's not just watching new anime that make me feel like this. I feel the same when joining new clubs at university, trying new software with large, established communities (like `vim` or `emacs`), and playing new video games (like *Animal Crossing: New Horizons* or *League of Legends*). I feel like as a newcomer, I will always be a burden on the community; the worst player in the team, the one who's always posting help threads without contributing back, or the one who doesn't get any of the inside jokes.