FOMO...

Today someone will look at this photo of me and Hamish (otherwise know as my own personal paddler) and say, "you at the lake again?" Same thing with a photo of Cathy holding a catfish. I have about five photos of me and Hambone paddling made last week and photos of Cathy holding a catfish that go back to the dawn of the age of digital cameras. I can post photos to social media that make it seem me and Hambone, though he lives in Chicago paddle every day and I can make it seem Cathy goes fishing every day of her life. 

I thought about all this because of a comment made to me that social media makes you have FOMO, fear of missing out. If you scan through someone's photos you may think you are not having that much fun. I assure you I am not paddling or fishing every day this week. The only thing you have missed over here is me sweating through my clothes about four times this week with a plumbing job, construction clean up at church and hot dog cooking for a blood drive.  

I probably don't look much at others photos to see what I'm missing as I am too busy looking at my own. It's text messages that create a social media anxiety with me. Before my retirement I would often receive text messages from co workers located all over the East Texas region. Some important, some that should have been thought out a little better. I think text messages are a barrier to critical thinking. It makes it too easy to ask someone instead of working through problem solving steps.  

Did I mention all my bear and alligator photos from recent camping trips? I estimate I can make you think you missed out on seeing a bear or a gator and that I saw one at least once a week for about 10 weeks. Satisfy your FOMO with the bear video by Margret at the link: