FOMO: the Fear of Missing Out, is the topic at Caterina Fake’s blog, Caterina.net.

It’s a thoughtful post, and as I recall, it is a fear that I had when I was younger. However, as I get older (and I believe this is true generally), I think the predominant fear one has becomes the fear of being left out. What’s great about social media, wireless connectivity, mobile devices, and other technology developments is that it gets easier to be connected and stay connected. I was sitting on my couch one Saturday night and I was a) responding to email from the Nova Scotia b) texting my daughter to see what she was doing in Toronto c) listening to music being posted on blip.fm from friends in the U.S. d) looking at photos being posted on Facebook and flickr.com from around the world e) responding to people on twitter from everywhere. What struck me was how interconnected I was with the world. Where once I might have felt isolated being by myself, having all this technology allowed me to be connected, and it made me happy to have it. It was the joy of being connected.

Now I think FOMO is a better acronym that JOY-C. And I have no doubt that people experience FOMO. But I am happy to have all my additional connectivity and JOY-C.