I think Gen Z and Boomers suffer FOGO too, especially since the pandemic. Human connection is vital to our health and our humanity. Thanks for writing and researching the topic.
So funny-in a weird way. As a recent retiree I find my self anxious about becoming someone who has “FOGO”. After years of dealing with the politics of work relationships, I find myself retreating to the safety and comfort of my home and new routine. I also hate making phone calls…
You have captured my sentiments completely. I have a 10-year-old grandson who is being raised like an 80s child. He can’t wait to get outside to play with his friends in the neighborhood, loves going to the park to find other kids and does not have a cell phone. His parents don’t want him to have one until he’s 15 or 16. He has no interest. However I see him gravitate to YouTube videos when the weather is bad outside. They’ve had to limit his online exposure because he will “overdose”. The other kids in the neighborhood are usually inside and don’t come out unless my grandson knocks in the door for them to come out and play. It will start with two kids and then it grows to six or seven. They are all boys and they have many wrestling matches and Nerf gun wars, and whatever else boys do. I fear for the time that he gets in middle school or high school and everyone has phones. On the other hand, I have a 16-year-old granddaughter in Japan, who lives with her phone all the time. She is shy at school, kids don’t go to visit each other in Japan, and her only outlet is Online gamers around the world when she plays video games. She is so awkward when meeting other people in person and her shyness is painful to behold, I worry about her getting out into the real world, today’s parents really need to police their kids telephones more, if they actually give them phones to begin with. I’m not convinced kids need them. It seems to have started in the early 90s when they all had to have pagers. That was OK to tell them to come home, but wasn’t really necessary. How on earth are these kids going to meet and fall in love and have kids if they can’t leave the house? I fear for this country’s future just from this point alone.
I had a horrible thought pop into my head. What if the step after Fear of Going Out were Fear of Living On. Why live on when life is just nothing but staying shut off in a home that might not even be yours?
External motivations rarely work long term, so paying people to go out might be a short term fix, but I'm thinking that a key ingredient is to kindle a joie de vivre. In hollow, cynical terms, we can see an attempt at this is the Kamala Harris campaign around joy. But what if we really made an effort society wise to make life more joyful for ... everyone? I'm really impressed by Scotland, Norway, and Finland and how they all honor each person's right to live a good life.
I also think this can be very different from not wanting to return to the workplace. I could argue that the drive by senior management to force everyone to work in joyless cubicles in a souless building is primarily an exercise in messaging that they have the power and what they want is compliance. You can integrate your worklife into your home, be productive, be social, and be happy. It's not for everybode and it doesn't work all the time, but it works often.
I think Gen Z and Boomers suffer FOGO too, especially since the pandemic. Human connection is vital to our health and our humanity. Thanks for writing and researching the topic.
So funny-in a weird way. As a recent retiree I find my self anxious about becoming someone who has “FOGO”. After years of dealing with the politics of work relationships, I find myself retreating to the safety and comfort of my home and new routine. I also hate making phone calls…
You have captured my sentiments completely. I have a 10-year-old grandson who is being raised like an 80s child. He can’t wait to get outside to play with his friends in the neighborhood, loves going to the park to find other kids and does not have a cell phone. His parents don’t want him to have one until he’s 15 or 16. He has no interest. However I see him gravitate to YouTube videos when the weather is bad outside. They’ve had to limit his online exposure because he will “overdose”. The other kids in the neighborhood are usually inside and don’t come out unless my grandson knocks in the door for them to come out and play. It will start with two kids and then it grows to six or seven. They are all boys and they have many wrestling matches and Nerf gun wars, and whatever else boys do. I fear for the time that he gets in middle school or high school and everyone has phones. On the other hand, I have a 16-year-old granddaughter in Japan, who lives with her phone all the time. She is shy at school, kids don’t go to visit each other in Japan, and her only outlet is Online gamers around the world when she plays video games. She is so awkward when meeting other people in person and her shyness is painful to behold, I worry about her getting out into the real world, today’s parents really need to police their kids telephones more, if they actually give them phones to begin with. I’m not convinced kids need them. It seems to have started in the early 90s when they all had to have pagers. That was OK to tell them to come home, but wasn’t really necessary. How on earth are these kids going to meet and fall in love and have kids if they can’t leave the house? I fear for this country’s future just from this point alone.
I had a horrible thought pop into my head. What if the step after Fear of Going Out were Fear of Living On. Why live on when life is just nothing but staying shut off in a home that might not even be yours?
External motivations rarely work long term, so paying people to go out might be a short term fix, but I'm thinking that a key ingredient is to kindle a joie de vivre. In hollow, cynical terms, we can see an attempt at this is the Kamala Harris campaign around joy. But what if we really made an effort society wise to make life more joyful for ... everyone? I'm really impressed by Scotland, Norway, and Finland and how they all honor each person's right to live a good life.
I also think this can be very different from not wanting to return to the workplace. I could argue that the drive by senior management to force everyone to work in joyless cubicles in a souless building is primarily an exercise in messaging that they have the power and what they want is compliance. You can integrate your worklife into your home, be productive, be social, and be happy. It's not for everybode and it doesn't work all the time, but it works often.