Slashdot Mirror
We Can't Stop Checking the News Either. Welcome to the New FOMO (wired.com)
An anonymous reader shares an article: Countless studies have shown that social-driven FOMO (fear of missing out) stems from a person's primitive desire to belong to a group, with each snap, tweet, or post a reminder of what separates you from them. This other type of FOMO, the all-news, all-the-time kind, is new enough that nobody has really studied it much, yet of the half-dozen experts in sociology, anthropology, economics, and neurology I spoke to, all quickly recognized what I was describing, and some even admitted to feeling it themselves. "We scroll through our Twitter feeds, not seeking anything specific, just monitoring them so we don't miss out on anything important," says Shyam Sundar, a communications researcher at Pennsylvania State University. This impulse could stem from the chemical hits our brains receive with each news hit, but it could also derive from a primitive behavioral instinct -- surveillance gratification-seeking, or the urge that drove our cave-dwelling ancestors to poke their heads out and check for predators. In times of perceived crisis, our brains cry out for information to help us survive. Maybe this alarm stems from steady hits of @realDonaldTrump. Maybe it's triggered by left-wing Resistance types. Or could it be #FakeNews, ISIS, guns, police violence, or street crime, all propagated through our social media bubbles with headlines that are written specifically to grab our attention? This feels like a processing problem. "One thing we learn about human beings: We're meaning-making machines," Kross says. And social mania may be ideal for mainlining breaking news, but it's not great at providing meaning and context.
>> "We scroll through our Twitter feeds, not seeking anything specific, just monitoring them so we don't miss out on anything important," says Shyam Sundar, a communications researcher
Seems like multiple levels of fail are in play here.
I have a deep, intense fear that I will fail to miss out on the news. This fear is usually validated by the weekly shitstorm on my FB feed. Also, when /. posts "current events" articles.
Seriously though, this is definitely only going to exist in certain circles. I shudder to identify them properly but I see them in the elevator constantly when they can't pull their nose out of their phone between floors.
We used to call these people AOL subscribers.
~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
"This impulse could stem from the chemical hits our brains receive with each news hit..."
Uh, news? That's a laugh. The only thing being passed around these days is bullshit, which the masses obviously love to puff, puff, pass.
"In times of perceived crisis, our brains cry out for information to help us survive."
Those of us still armed with brains and common sense are crying, because its become increasingly frustrating to find a needle of useful information in a haystack world full of bullshit.
The article is stumbling on to something that goes far beyond the latest news cycle. We're a tribal species, and until somewhat recently our survival depended on forming cohesive bonds with like minded individuals. In the past, that was our tribe; we would cleave to the opinion of the group in an effort to ensure our survival.
Those of you with a sharp eye might notice this leaves little room for independent thought or free will. You aren't wrong.
In modern times those behaviors still exist, but they're expressed differently. As our communication technology has advanced it has allowed us to form these tribal bonds with people who are otherwise physically distant, but because of the distance we do not get the constant feedback we'd otherwise get from an in-person association. The end result is an almost obsessive need to stalk friends and family online.
You'll note, danger doesn't really enter into it except as an amorphous "force" driving the need for socialization.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
I was just dropping by to check for new stories.
Mostly I dig for science and tech news, the bleeding edge of human knowledge and engineering stuff (except I'm looking at the pop science reporting, not the actual research / studies).
I've learned to put it all aside for most of my day and relax. It's way too easy to waste your time looking for the next bit of interesting information and never find it.
The truth is that nothing (that I can do anything about) is going to happen on a time scale of days. If I read about something tomorrow even in a week... the delay is not going to affect my life, I'm not actually missing out on anything.
I actually gave up on watching or checking the news every five minutes when it went from 'These are the important things you must know!' to 'Here's what you should be outraged about today!'. I don't need to be told what I should or shouldn't be angry/disappointed/worried about, I'm a big boy and I'll make up my own mind on that. I just want to be told what's happening in the most neutral way possible, but that's not possible anymore it seems so I gave up. I'll listen to local news for a the highlights, but that's about it.
My wife & I went camping this past weekend in southern Illinois to view the eclipse. The location where we were at had no service on our phones. No Facebook, no news, etc. I get the same thing in the area where I go hunting. It's actually very refreshing. I highly recommend it.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
But I wanted to post anyway.
First thing in the morning, every morning.
1. Did he start a nuclear war?
2. Did he resign?
3. Brush teeth.
Mostly in hopes that NK has launched nukes and I can just not bother to go in to work today.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Checking the news obsessively just leads to a greater obsession with doing same.
There's nothing wrong with having someone else tell you if there's something important.... And with all these people afraid of missing out there must be tons of people who are aware of the media's particular perspective!
I used to check Slashdot obsessively but then found myself stuck in a loop of doing just that, and didn't realize how much of it was pure obsession and not actual benefit/fun in any way until I stepped away. And it was actually getting me worked up, I would get too involved in conversations, and too anxious about bad news and everything terrible about the world, without being able to even do anything about it because I was busy refreshing pages.
Remember pre-internet (or at least pre-AOL and pre-Google)? Life was still fun, maybe more fun...
Twinstiq, game news
*EYEROLL*