The psychosocial effects of COVID-19 disproportionately affect young people. Both immediate and longer-term factors through which young people are affected include social isolation, changes to the delivery of therapeutic services and almost complete loss of all structured occupations (school, work and training) within this population group. Longer-term mechanisms include the effects of the predicted recession on young people’s mental health. Society today is equipped to be a far more contentious environment than experienced by generations before. Every aspect of life documented, quantified, shared and saved for all your peers to see. Hard as it might have been for you to grapple with the assumption your best friend was more popular than you, at least you could hold dear that it was, just that, an assumption. Today’s youth have the figures to evaluate it; 77 likes to my 10 or 1,000 followers to my 70. It is perhaps unsurprising that Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is said to combine irritability, anxiety, and inadequacy and that one’s self-esteem may also impact the level of FOMO experienced. In the context of mental health issues FOMO is one of the newest, anxiety causing, stressors that impact the mental health of today's young digital natives for whom social media plays such an important role in identity building. The NOMO FOMO project proposes 'unpacking' the term FOMO to see what lies beneath and provide a toolkit of interactive learning resources to address the elements identified. In a survey with young people the following themes were commonly identified in all partner countries as being the basis for FOMO anxiety. Fear of being unpopular; uninteresting; unattractive; unworthy; unfriendly; unkind; uncaring; are just a sample of the 12 most common themes that emerged. Addressing these themes, partners will pilot NOMO FOMO outputs in 6 local settings where the partners are based. Educational games are not a new phenomenon, and have been a part of the educational landscape since the development of the abacus and before. In today's ubiquitous technology environment online gaming, especially on smartphones has grown exponentially and a survey conducted by Nielsen in the USA found that for young digital natives the amount of time spent playing games on their smartphone is 12 times more than the time they spend talking or texting. It is clear that smartphones are the device of choice for young digital natives and responding to this the NOMO FOMO consortium are proposing to develop a completely new smartphone based learning experience that promotes positive mental health. Gen Zers have the latest tech gadgets in their palms, are hyper-connected, and eager to innovate. They live in an online 'bubble' surrounded by technology. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and a whole range of other social media platforms are the new street corners where today's digital natives 'hang out'. They are the perfect, familiar and attractive places to engage Gen Zers and address the impact of social media on mental health. Infographics have been steadily gaining popularity, both in digital and print formats in organizations and education. They are clear, effective and visually engaging. They present a variety of information while retaining the attention of the viewer. Today’s youth are inundated with information every day and opportunities for distraction are increasing. Young people need tools to easily digest information while also being offered the opportunity to develop key skills in a digital environment where they are most at home. The NOMO FOMO consortium partners will create 12 interactive infographics each one addressing one of the key themes associated with FOMO anxiety and stress which directly impact mental health. Each individual interactive infographic resource will comprise a series of 4 different but related learning elements. Each element will have clear learning outcomes to be achieved. Research conducted to inform this proposal with young digital natives found that they do not use up to 60% of the apps that they have downloaded and the vast majority of them expressed an unwillingness to download new apps due to the data mining activities of app developers. For this reason the resources developed will be presented and accessed directly through the camera on their smartphone through the built in QR code reader. Partners will develop an in-service training programme for front-line youth workers with two specific elements namely Unpacking FOMO and building the digital skills of front-line youth workers to build their own interactive infographics using software programmes like PowToon, StoryBoardThat, VideoScribe, KAHOOT, LearningApps, Google Forms, etc. Partners will also develop a SMART-FEED training programme for young people allowing them to take control of their social media environments All resources will be presented on a NOMO FOMO MOOC
Through developing and implementing this project, our core objectives were to: (1) 'Unpack' the term FOMO to see what lies beneath and provide a toolkit of interactive learning resources to address the elements identified. (2) Support young people and youth workers to understand how their mental health and well-being is impacted by social media. (3) Support a new generation of young people to become peer youth leaders in addressing youth mental health, and to become ambassadors of youth mental health in their communities. (4) Provide a robust catalogue of youth mental health training materials addressed to youth workers and young people so that these groups can be empowered to address youth mental health through a community-based, bottom-up approach to mental health awareness and education. (5) Engage young people and youth workers in transnational training activities, and support this cohort of young people and youth workers to join a transnational community of practice, supported through the MOOC platform. (6) Provide free access to all training materials developed through a bespoke MOOC platform, which will be available in all partner languages – English, French, German, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish.
NOMO FOMO project partners applied for this project funding, to respond to the following needs: (1) In Ireland, young people aged 18 to 29 years of age reported significantly greater mental health issues during the pandemic. Young adults particularly suffered with higher levels of loneliness, less tolerance of uncertainty and lower perceived control over anxiety related events, and those who spent more than 4 hours per day on social media, reported significantly poorer mental health. (2) Research from the Students Union in Rzeszow University highlighted the need to address the stigma surrounding youth mental health to provide targeted support to those in need. (3) Research conducted by EUphoria has identified heightened anxiety levels among Greek and Spanish youth and this problem is exacerbated by their high dependence on social media and their inability to reconcile their real-world experiences with their online persona. (4) Reports from youth organisations working on the ground in Portugal, Germany and France which highlighted the need to find new solutions to address youth mental health concerns in the wake of the pandemic. Partners applied for this project to respond to these needs through targeted, youth-centred supports.