FOMO is a little-known topic, but it is very present in the lives of children and adolescents. Therefore, it silently causes severe damage to their healthy development. Learn more about the subject to protect the future of young people! Inexplicably, many parents do not understand their children’s loss of interest in education. So that child with a thirst for learning suddenly becomes passive. In other cases, the young man full of vigour starts to isolate himself in the bedroom.
With the rush of everyday life, parents believe that this attitude is normal in adolescence. Therefore, they confuse it with laziness or sadness. In the long run, it triggers a range of symptoms. For example, the child has a learning disability at school. Furthermore, he loses focus and cannot be interested in anything. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to raise awareness about a subject that deserves attention.
The FOMO is a concept created in the mid-2000s, even so, it is a subject little discussed. Let’s clarify its origin, how to identify behaviours and the solution to keep children healthy. Check it out below!
Origin of FOMO: 3 destructive triggers
Understanding the origin of this term is critical for effective prevention. On the other hand, if your kids are already experiencing this problem, read on. Because this article is to raise awareness about the topic, but also to show solutions. In short, they are co-dependent on technology. Not only young people and children, but even adults can be victims of this. This is due to the lack of emotional maturity to deal with information on the internet.
Soon, we can see how our children are vulnerable. After all, if an adult can fall into this trap, imagine the children! Therefore, understanding the origin of FOMO is the first step to avoiding or solving the problem!
1. Addiction to novelties
Who doesn’t like the news? Seniors, adults, youth and children love everything new. With that, the internet started to dominate people. After all, a new product appears every day. On the other hand, influencers show their achievements. In fact, they only portray what is positive. Therefore, they transmit perfection to young people. In addition, at this stage, competition is high among classmates at school. They do not leave the internet and follow each other on social media. Soon, they begin to follow the lives of colleagues as if it were a soap opera.
FOMO was born in this context. At some point, the addiction to other people’s lives takes over. So, the child and adolescent who has not yet formed identity is lost. They start to compare themselves and develop anxiety. Furthermore, they experience the feeling of missing out on some new news. For example, every so often refreshes the feed to see a new post.
They start to live the life of the other and no longer the present moment. If we adults are also at risk of experiencing this escape, imagine young people. However, the novelty attracts children and young people much more. That is, they tend to be more impulsive because of a lack of maturity. That way, seducing them with this trigger is much easier.
2. Comparison with influencers
As mentioned, children and young people compare a lot. Therefore, FOMO causes anxiety. Since at this stage they have no identity. Therefore, they tend to copy the reference, wear the same clothes, speak alike and assume a similar posture. They don’t know about their abilities, identify emotions and need adult support. With the addiction to novelties, the young man starts to compare himself. They want to be the reference they follow. For example:
- Famous artist;
- YouTuber;
- Popular schoolmate.
This takes the focus off of oneself and the young person wastes time. That is, he wastes his time in an unproductive way, rather than channelling it into something interesting. Then it develops addictive behaviours. For example:
- New posts need to arrive;
- Do not unglue your cell phone.
On the other hand, this same young person is sometimes an influencer. Even so, it also develops this anxiety. After all, he needs to generate content at all costs, check comments and likes. In other words, you fall into novelty addiction again. In this case, it’s an anxiety about your audience’s reaction.
3. Cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is one of the most dangerous triggers for the development of children. That’s because not all countries recognize this problem. In fact, many companies still haven’t taken preventive measures to protect customers and employees. For example, no matter how much an employee reports the behaviour of this nature, companies do not take any action.
With that, it encourages the behaviour of those people who believe that this attitude is correct. In other countries, attitudes that harm people’s emotional state are severely punished in environments such as:
- Social networks;
- Companies;
- Work platforms.
In Brazil, these measures were not adopted. Therefore, only with the help of a lawyer, we were able to punish the aggressor. This is why young people and children are likely to experience FOMO more often.
Behaviours Parents Need to Watch Out for
Find out if your children experience this situation, just look at frequent behaviours. For example:
- Internet addictions
- Isolation
- Anxiety
- binge eating
- Lack of interest
The young man without an identity is frustrated by not being able to be who he admires. Technology needs to be an instrument to generate productivity. In other words, it cannot be a crutch to supply the vanity and silence the children’s rebellion.
In this context, Cyberbullying becomes fuel for FOMO. In other words, they experience violence at home, in the virtual environment. As a result, they develop depression and can reach more severe levels.
Tips to shield the mental health of children and avoid FOMO
We brought you the origin and behaviours that require attention. Now, how can we shield children’s mental health? How to prevent destructive losses in the formation of these young people? See below the main pillars to protect mental health, such as prevention.
- Dialogue with children;
- Develop emotional skills;
- Subject;
- Identify talents.
Dialogue with the kids is key to showing him why you’re going to adopt some new rules. For example, decrease the use of electronic devices. Also, do not allow the use of cell phones during meals.
Discipline breaks addictions when the young person has self-esteem. So the remedy is to develop emotional skills in them. Then adopt rules of conduct. Finally, recognizing talents to encourage them in children and adolescents.
