JOMO

Anil Dash wrote a post recently entitled JOMO, Joy of Missing Out. He talks about living in New York City where there is so much going on and you are always missing something great, but that there is a certain joy in realizing you would rather be doing other things.

Sometimes, you don’t go to that amazing event because you’re just going to stay home and read a book or watch TV or flick away idly at your phone, only realizing you’ve missed the moment when it’s already too late. And then, when you get old and wonderfully, contentedly boring like me, you stay home because you’d rather be there for bathtime and bedtime with the baby than, well, anywhere else in the world.

This is the Joy of Missing Out.

I read this post after being lucky enough to attend most of the sessions for CSS Summit online this week. I sat in a room of friends and fellow developers and we learned some really interesting things in the realm of CSS, Sass, and many other related things. It was great. In the chat room I noticed people were lamenting the fact that they just couldn’t keep up with everything that is going on and all the things they want to learn or master.

So when I read Anil’s post this morning it made me think that maybe we should take the same idea he is talking about in relation to living in a vibrant, bustling city and think the same way about trying to keep up with all the new techniques of web development. I realize that keeping up is crucial to our field, but I also realize that we could very well run ourselves ragged trying to do just that. We deserve to have a life, to enjoy other things, and sometimes that may be at the expense of reading the latest article on the newest technique. Lately I have taken the attitude that if something is really crucial, then I’ll probably see it linked from several different sources, letting me know I really should take the time to read it. It means I do miss things, but it also means I keep my sanity and have time to disconnect from the internets. I believe in the end, that will make me an even better developer.