From FOMO to JOMO...

Or maybe we're just learning to walk again.

So apparently, Nokia is making a comeback in the mobile phone category. As far as I gather, they’re releasing (or have released) a version of the Nokia 3210 and a flip phone.

Y’know, for those of us who are nostalgic for a simpler time.

They’ve been dubbed… dumbphones.

Target market? Millennials (and other young ‘uns) who are worried about spending too much time online or on their phones.

I’m probably one of them.

I was gonna say that on average, I probably use my phone less than the typical person but truth is, I probably use my phone an average amount.

I would like to spend less of my life scrolling Instagram and Facebook videos.

What started off as using social media apps to market my copy and content writing business and to connect with folks I’ve met from all over the world (I use the word “connect” loosely — mostly, I watch their IG stories and pretend I know who they are and what they’re up to these days), has now turned into an almost instinctive behavior.

When I find myself with a few minutes on my hands, whether while that’s waiting for the water to boil to make pasta or walking to the supermarket, my fingers automatically seek out the brightly colored hues of the Instagram logo and before I know it, I’ve watched a video of a baby laughing, a woman talking about the 5 questions you should ask your therapist, a collection of “funny fails”, and a slew of other mind-numbing videos.

It doesn’t add anything to my life (except maybe the one about knowing what to ask my therapist).

The other day, a friend of mine decided they didn’t want to take their phone with them when we went out for dinner.

I was shocked.

To be honest, I felt a mild anxiety that they wouldn’t have a way to contact someone if they needed to in an emergency. But also because my phone has become a kind of crutch for me.

I don’t remember the last time I went anywhere without my phone. No, not even to the store 10 meters away from my apartment.

It’s ridiculous. I don’t need my phone. But I need my phone.

And don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful piece of technology and a very useful device in many ways.

I would get so lost without it, especially here in Xalapa where if you take 4 consecutive right turns you might end up in a different city.

I use it to pay my bills, stay in touch with friends and family (like the real ones) via Whatsapp and to take pictures of (some of) the beautiful things I see and experience in my life.

But all of that probably takes up less time than the amount of time I spend on stupid Instagram.

And that’s not to say I don’t want to ever use Instagram again — not at all. That’s how I get orders for my food business but honestly, I don’t need to be online at all hours of the day to do that.

So should I get a Nokia 3210?

It might do me some good.

A lesson in detachment.

An experiment perhaps.

I wonder what I would do with all that extra time.

Call a friend (like for real call them)? Read a book? Paint? Work on the 18,000 pending projects I have in mind? Finally write a book?

Or would I simply find another way to “waste” my time?

Time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted anyway.

Oh right. Coming back to the title of this piece… from FOMO to JOMO. Or for the less acronym-savvy, from “Fear of Missing Out” to “Joy of Missing Out”.

FOMO has been around for a while. Coined in 1996, it gained popularity in 2004 and has become much more intense with social media apps where it is common to document only the highlights of ones life, making it feel like everyone else is doing much better than you are and leading to intense feelings of dissatisfaction, reduces self-esteem, and just makes you generally feel like shit.

As a countermovement to FOMO, people started talking about JOMO. There’s even a JOMO app that helps you control your screen time so you can be more present and stop worrying about the stuff you’re missing out on. The idea is to focus on the things you have and that you enjoy doing without worrying about what every Tom, Dick, and Harry is doing. In theory.

In practice… I don’t know. Personally, I find it easier to disconnect when I’m out and about, doing something. At yoga class, or at the climbing wall, out with friends, or working in the garden, cooking something random, or drawing mindless shapes in my notebook.

But it does get exhausting to constantly be doing something. It would be nice to be able to disconnect and not do anything.

Maybe switching to a dumbphone would help — because I’ve definitely tried apps that block other apps and try to limit your screentime in different ways, but somehow I end up disabling the app and doing whatever the heck I wanted to anyway.

That’s why perhaps the answer is to simply not even have the option to use Instagram or whatever other mind-numbing app is available.

Sometimes you’ve simply got to let go of the crutch so that you can learn to walk again.

As for me… I’m idly contemplating getting myself a dumbphone when my current smartphone (from 2017!) inevitably gives up the ghost. I don’t know if I’ll do it. I don’t know that I could? At this point, my attachment to my phone feels too strong to really do it.

But then again, I’ve done other difficult things in life… surely this can’t be that bad?

Would you consider making the switch to a dumbphone? Or how are you practicing JOMO and not falling prey to FOMO in your life? I’d love a tip or two.

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