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FOMO

The document discusses the importance of sleep for students and highlights a concerning trend of teenagers waking up at night due to FOMO (fear of missing out) related to social media. Statistics reveal that a significant number of students are affected, leading to tiredness and potential mental health issues. Additionally, it explains the developmental changes in the adolescent brain, emphasizing the role of neural connections and the late development of the frontal cortex, which impacts decision-making and self-control.

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61 views2 pages

FOMO

The document discusses the importance of sleep for students and highlights a concerning trend of teenagers waking up at night due to FOMO (fear of missing out) related to social media. Statistics reveal that a significant number of students are affected, leading to tiredness and potential mental health issues. Additionally, it explains the developmental changes in the adolescent brain, emphasizing the role of neural connections and the late development of the frontal cortex, which impacts decision-making and self-control.

Uploaded by

nguynthien
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FOMO

posted 2 hours ago by Mr Braddock, Sixth Form teacher


Everybody knows how important it is for students to get a good night’s sleep every
night. You aren’t able to do your best and keep up with all of your responsibilities
unless you sleep well. I’m sure you already know that you should go to bed at a
reasonable hour. Most experts agree that the optimum number of hours is eight, and
this has been accepted as common sense for as long as I can remember. However, I
was young once and I know that most of you get much less sleep than that – and in
some cases it will be affecting your schoolwork.
I read an interesting article in a teachers’ magazine recently. They did a study of 848
students in Wales. Worryingly, the results showed that teenagers are facing a new
problem. They may go to bed and get up at appropriate times but a growing number
are waking up in the middle of the night, not to use the bathroom or have a snack but
because of a new phenomenon: FOMO – fear of missing out!
According to the article, schoolchildren are suffering because of a growing trend to
wake up during the night to check social media. Afraid of missing a comment or
opportunity to take part in a chat, teenagers are waking at all times of the night, going
online and getting involved. All this when they should be sound asleep.
Experts are worried about this growing trend and the report reveals some worrying
statistics that I’d like to share with you:
 23% of 12 to 15-year-olds wake up nearly every night to use social media.
Another 15% wake up at night once a week for the same reason.
 One in three students are constantly tired and unable to function to their full
capacity.
 Students who use social media during the night are more likely to suffer
from depression and anxiety.
So, I’d like to ask you to be responsible when it comes to social media. Be brave!
Switch off your devices at night. The world won’t end and your social media will be
waiting to greet you in the morning! I give you my word that you won't have missed
anything important.

Me and my brain
We all know that significant changes occur in our bodies during adolescence,
but have you ever stopped to wonder what's actually going on inside our brains
during this time?
To paint a clearer picture, we should first familiarise ourselves with the
different parts of the brain. Did you know, for instance, that our brains are made up of
around 100 billion nerve cells called neurons? And stemming from these neurons are
several branch-like structures for sending and receiving electrical signals? Every time
we do or think anything, a signal is transmitted. The signal travels down a long
structure called the axon and, at the end, it passes across tiny gaps called synapses to
the dendrites of another neuron, which receive the signal. In this way, messages are
sent across our neural network.
Our brain structure changes dramatically as we grow up. Newborn babies have
almost all their neurons but few connections between them, which is why they can't do
very much. After a few months however, the number of connections explodes, which
in turn helps tiny tots master a whole range of new skills such as walking and talking.
Despite earlier myths that most brain development is completed in the first few years,
we now know that our brains continue to develop throughout our lives and perhaps the
most dramatic time of change and development is during puberty.
During this period of reorganisation, the brain witnesses a sudden increase in
neurons not dissimilar to a plant growing uncontrollably in spring. Just as we prune a
plant to make it stronger and healthier, we prune our brains. The connections that are
used become stronger, whereas those which aren't used wither and die. So, the more
frequently an action or thought is activated, the stronger the connections become
between the neurons, which in turn strengthens the part of the brain being used. This
explains why the more you do something, the better you become at it, reinforcing the
old adage 'practice makes perfect'. In fact, it would seem that the teenage brain
provides optimum conditions for perfecting skills such as playing a musical
instrument, speaking another language or learning a complex computer game. It could
therefore be argued that teenagers determine the development of their own grey matter
through the activities and experiences they engage in.
It may also be unsurprising to many to learn that the last part of the adolescent
brain to develop is the frontal cortex, responsible for self-control, problem solving and
decision making. Consequently, long before teens become adept at rational, abstract
thinking and logical decision making, they rely on the emotional centre of the brain to
make choices and think. So perhaps unpredictable, volatile, risk-taking teenage
behaviour, often put down to hormones, may actually have more to do with what's
going on inside our brain.

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