Carpe omnia
Today: Brian Hioe, Taipei-based editor, translator, activist, DJ, co-founder of New Bloom, and author of Taipei at Daybreak.
Issue No. 446
FOMO’s Arrow
Brian Hioe
FOMO’s Arrow
by Brian Hioe
I got sick recently, for the first time in a while. As a result, I missed a panel event I’d wanted to attend, and a radio appearance. I’ll be kicking myself over that for some time to come—not because there was anything particularly important I missed, but because of my extreme FOMO. It’s bad enough that for days after I miss something, I’ll think about it when I wake up and when I go to sleep. However insignificant the event I missed, I’ll find myself pushing to be everywhere to “make up for it” for days, weeks or even months afterward. Why?
There are events from several years ago that I still kick myself over, even though I suspect I didn’t actually miss anything. My memory simply won’t allow me to forget.
Part of it is that I really value chances to connect with people, because a lot of the most important events of my life began through chance meetings. The left organization I helped found a decade ago began with a group of people who started talking spontaneously at a protest in 2013. I have close friends who just messaged me one day on the internet; if I had failed to read my “Message Requests” folder on Twitter, back then, I would not know them at all. If I miss a radio appearance, who knows who might have listened in?
Keep us breathing fire!
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