DEV Community

Cover image for S.O.S.: you might suffer from F.O.M.O.! ( About Fear of Missing Out and Shiny Object Syndrome)

S.O.S.: you might suffer from F.O.M.O.! ( About Fear of Missing Out and Shiny Object Syndrome)

Davide de Paolis on April 08, 2019

I am attracted by the endless possibilities around me, all the stuff I´d like to learn and do, both on the personal and the professional level: p...
Collapse
 
alebiagini profile image
aleBiagini

Hello, I found your article incredibly fitting with myself. I usually lose interest in things when I understand their pattern; once the surprise is over, the fun is no more. I feel like I need to go every time on new roads, to discover, learn, experiment, taste new feelings. This gives me incredible energy on fresh starts but dangerous falls once into the new path- I am trying to get more balanced, too! Thanks for the nice point of view, I never found someone talking about it :) If you are Italian(it may be, from your name) un saluto da qua! Or, if not, greetings from Italy!

Collapse
 
dvddpl profile image
Davide de Paolis

ciao. si. italiano. di Milano. ma vivo ad Amburgo da 5 anni. :-) tu?

Collapse
 
alebiagini profile image
aleBiagini

Grosseto, Toscana. Ma abito qua a Bergamo, sono espatriato anche io :) auguri per tutto!

Collapse
 
greg_ricker profile image
Greg Ricker

This was spot on. I find myself doing many of these things. For me, it's a worry that I'll become tech obsolete. All you have to do is spend a bit of time on Indeed and you'll see that many of the jobs require the latest stuff. With so many employers using resume scanning it pushes people to keep chasing the latest and greatest tech. Or as you say, "Shiny Objects".

Collapse
 
dvddpl profile image
Davide de Paolis

yep. I am also always worried to become obsolete. Even though currently I am working on all the latest cool tech ( React + AWS) my main concern is that every 2 or 5 or 10 years you have to completely renew your skills and tech stack and while growing older you are now and then becoming a junior ( in that stach) ...

Collapse
 
mandarvaze profile image
Mandar Vaze

I too can relate to this.

I'm still on FB, but since the beginning I never checked it more than once in couple of months.

Beginning on 2018, I stopped following a lot of people on twitter, and started following "relevant" people.
Recently, I again, unfollowed a whole lot of them.
This allows me to keep my twitter stream to a manageable size.

I use todoist instead of trello. Kinda helps, but I need more discipline.

Finally, I think what matters most is "be mindful - focus on the right now and right here." cause I definitely need to be "brought back on track" regularly.

Collapse
 
dvddpl profile image
Davide de Paolis

yep. keeping the stream of info low is also important. i noticed that also with medium / hackernoon. sure it's about tech and not about fakenews, parties or other crap on FB, but still the feed was becoming way too big.

Collapse
 
timothymcgrath profile image
Timothy McGrath

Great post!
I often feel overwhelmed by the number of things I want to learn. I usually start multiple side projects / books and don't finish any of them. The key for me is to sit down, prioritize, and then only do the one thing I consider most important until I finish it. It's hard, but it is the only way for me. Otherwise I just end up with a bunch of half-finished goals.

Collapse
 
michelegrace profile image
michelegrace

I totally relate to this feeling, heck, the reason i'm on dev.to right now is because I got distracted from working on my react course! I have yet to find any sufficient coping techniques, I think we have so much at our finger tips these days, we reach a paralysis of choice in what we give our attention to. Literally everything and anything you want to learn is probably available to you on the internet, so how does anyone ever prioritize?

Collapse
 
dvddpl profile image
Davide de Paolis

exactly. everything is available and luring us.

and the worst thing is that often I wast so much time reading articles about being more productive... i have a draft post about that problem - actually I came to work early to get shit done... but maybe i should just finish that.. 🤔

Collapse
 
qureshi81 profile image
qureshi81

This is great Davide. I thought I am the only one. Your post made my day. Joker was damn right. Whatever does'nt kill you simply makes you "stranger"!

Collapse
 
geocine profile image
Aivan Monceller

You are not alone, its good to have a circle of people who do the same. That way, it doesn't feel like a chore. I wish I had that circle.

Collapse
 
qureshi81 profile image
qureshi81

This is great Davide. I thought I was the only one. Your post made my day. Joker was damn right. Whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you "stranger".