“When you turn stuff off and you are forced to engage with people and do things, you discover REAL likes and dislikes — not thumbs up or thumbs down, not opinions — but the actual enjoyment of doing.”

— Thad & Jeremy, JOY VENTURE

Missing out? Who wants to miss out?

Perhaps the better questions to ask are:

• What are you missing out on by being fully distracted, seduced by the ding and siren song bell of an incoming text, tweet, IM or post?

• What does it mean to live in the present, the here and now without incessantly scrolling through the carefully curated lives of your infinite followers — many of whom you must admit we have no personal relationship with?

We grapple with this addictive digital discourse that we all face, contemplate the example we’re providing for those around us, the need for guardrails, and how the concept of boredom and white space is virtually nonexistent — just look around at everyone with their heads buried in their devices.

FOMO is a byproduct of the digital times we live in. But if we’re intentional, we can get back the precious time we hand over to social apps and push notifications that keep us from true social engagement and/or downtime to fuel our curiosity and creativity.

If FOMO is a real thing for you (we can attest that we’re guilty of succumbing to it from time to time), then it’s time to change this narrative and embrace JOMO — and spread that kind of joy instead of auto-feeding the fear.