We check Twitter because of our fear of being left out

Where is the fear?

If there is no sale, look for the fear.

If a marketing meeting ends in a stalemate, look for the fear.

If someone has a tantrum, breaks a promise, or won't cooperate . . . there's fear involved.

Fear is the most important emotion we have. It kept our ancestors alive, after all. Fear dominates the other emotions, because without our ability to avoid death, the other ones don't matter very much.

Our sanitized, corporatized society hasn't figured out how to get rid of the fear, so instead, we channel it into bizarre corners of our life.

We check Twitter because of our fear of being left out.

We buy expensive handbags for the same reason.

We take a mundane follow-the-manual job because of our fear of failing as a mapmaker, and we make bad financial decisions because of our fear of taking responsibility for our money.

It turns out that we're even afraid to talk about fear, as if that somehow makes it more real.

Fear of living without a map is the main reason people are so insistent that we tell them what to do.

The reasons are pretty obvious: if it's someone else's map, it's not your fault if it doesn't work out. If you're reading my script and you don't make the sale, who's in trouble now?

Not only does the map insulate us from responsibility, but it's also a social talisman.

We can tell our friends and family that we've found a good map, a safe map, a map worthy of respect.