A weekly thought for leaders with the courage to introspect.
Digi Ben. Always online. Never present.
Do you know Digi Ben?
I don't know him personally. But we all know him.
Maybe you are it.
Digi Ben, the person who is always online.
Always available. Always there.
Or rather: always absent.
On LinkedIn? The dot is always green.
On WhatsApp? It always says โonlineโ.
Do you post something? On Facebook, Insta, X, YouTube or TikTok?
Don't worry: Digi Ben sees it. And Digi Ben likes it.
Digi Ben knows everything.
Of politics. Of the economy. Of football. Of corona. Of China.
Of conspiracies. Of crypto. Of everything.
In terms of news updates, Digi Ben is better informed than the entire editorial team of Nu.nl.
He calls himself a โmaximizerโ.
A man (or woman) who wants to get the most out of life.
Always up to date.
Always there.
Always on.
But what Digi Ben doesn't realizeโฆ
Is that he is mainly a follower.
A digital eavesdropper.
A slave to his addiction.
A customer who pays with his data.
Because everything he takes in โ his information, his news, his entertainment โ
he pays with his behavior.
With his footprints in the never-melting snow.
Digi Ben is not independent.
On the contrary.
His behavior is driven by fear.
Hidden fear.
Fear of missing out. FOMO.
And no โ fomo is not a new term.
And the psychology behind it is as old as man himself.
But digitalization has magnified that fear.
Enlarge.
Enlarge.
Digi Ben checks his phone seventeen times an hour.
Not out of freedom.
But out of fear.
Afraid of missing out.
Afraid of being left out.
Afraid of not participating.
But that fear doesn't improve his life.
On the contrary.
He consumes out of fear.
He scrolls out of fear.
He speaks out of fear.
And honestly?
It doesn't matter a damn.
That news report.
That update.
That opinion about that update.
It has zero effect.
0. Zero.
What really counts?
That you are informed enough to move with the world.
But no more than that.
Life is not a competition in news consumption.
Your physical life should be more important than your digital existence.
As far as I'm concerned, only one letter should remain of FOMO:
The O.
From Outsider.
From Outbreak.
From Offline.
That's where your freedom lies.
That's where your attention is.
That's where your life is.
I predict it for you:
A counter-movement is coming.
Offline is becoming the new luxury.
Being invisible is becoming a trend.
Living under the radar becomes status.
Why wait?
Let's get started now.
You don't live life online.
You experience life with all your senses.
In the here.
In the now.
In real life!
—
The space between the words is where insight arises.
Until next week when our thoughts touch again.
Hans Ruinemans
The Boardroom Monk โฏ๏ธ