Anyone in social media will no “retweet”, “follow”, “forward”.  The forwarded or retweeted messages are in abundance in Social media and WhatsApp. The quantum is so much that sometime we land up seeing same old message as a new forwarded message.  

 Retweets of other posts make up almost half of all posts (46%) in twitter . (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/05/10-facts-about-americans-and-twitter/)

In most minds, the act of forwarding messages are ways to express with no accountability, that

1. I have received messages that keep me updated (whether relevant or not)
2. I am sharing with others (without verifying or checking if the recipients are interested in it)

We have now found a convenient way of make ourselves not accountable. We add a phrase saying “forwarded as received”

This behaviour is often translated in corporate world as well. Though it takes different form.

1. Keep me copied or keep in loop for almost every communication
2. Inviting and getting invited for meetings, whether I have anything to contribute or not

These are all symptoms of forwarder as I do not take ownership of what is being said.

The root of all this is on a commonly known syndrome called FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). They are caused or influenced by several factors.

1. There is a strong need to constantly compare ourselves with others in society. When we see our friends posting so much, we also want to do that same. There have been several criminal cases on what people can do to increase the “likes” in social media.
2. We continuously feel the need for social approval of our knowledge and status.
3. The aforementioned factors also lead to uncertainty about the future. If I am not aware of this, I may lose an opportunity.
4. A new trend has been of one getting addicted to technology, particularly Social Media. It is now being treated under clinical psychologist. The terms used for that are CAD (Compulsive Addiction Disorder) or IGD (Internet Gaming Disorder).

The only person who can help in coming out of FOMO is ME.

The minimum I can do is to forward a message only after investing sometime to validate the message.