You know the feeling—you have left your phone at home and feel anxious, as if you have lost your connection to the world. "Nomophobia(无手机恐惧感)" affects teenagers and adults alike. You can even do an online test to see if you have it. Last week, researchers from Hong Kong warned that nomophobia is infecting everyone. Their study found that people who use their phones to store, share and access personal memories suffer most. When users were asked to describe how they felt about their phones, words such as "hurt" (neck pain was often reported) and "alone" predicted higher levels of nomophobia.

    "The findings of our study suggest that users regard smartphones as their extended selves and get attached to the devices," said Dr Kim Ki Joon. "People experience feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness when separated from their phones." Meanwhile, an American study shows that smartphones separation can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.

    So can being without your phone really give you separation anxiety? Professor Mark Griffiths, psychologist and director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, says it is what is on the phone that counts—the social networking that creates Fomo (fear of missing out).

    "We are talking about an Internet-connected device that allows people to deal with lots of aspects of their lives," says Griffiths. "You would have to surgically remove a phone from a teenager because their whole life is ingrained in this device."

    Griffiths thinks attachment theory, where we develop emotional dependency on the phone because it holds details of our lives, is a small part of nomophobia. For "screenagers", it is Fomo that creates the most separation anxiety. If they can't see what's happening on Snapchat or Instagram, they become panic-stricken about not knowing what's going on socially. "But they adapt very quickly if you take them on holiday and there's no Internet," says Griffiths.

    At first glance Esther Okade seems like a normal 10-year-old. She loves dressing up, playing with Barbie dolls and going to the park or shopping. But what makes the British-Nigerian youngster stand out is the fact that she's also a university undergraduate.

    Esther, from Walsall, an industrial town in the UK's West Midlands region, is one of the country's youngest college freshmen. The talented 10-year-old enrolled at the Open University, a UK-based distance learning college, in January and is already top of the class, having recently scored 100% in a recent exam.

    "It's so interesting. It has the type of maths I love. It's real maths-theories, complex numbers, all that type of stuff," she smiles. "I want to finish the course in two years. Then I'm going to do my PhD in financial maths when I'm 13. I want to have my own bank by the time I'm 15 because I like numbers and I like people and banking is a great way to help people." she adds.

    Esther has always jumped ahead of her peers. She sat her first Math GSCE exam, a British high school qualification, at Ounsdale High School in Wolverhampton at just six, where she received a C-grade. A year later, she got the A-grade she wanted. Then last year she scored a B-grade when she sat the Math A-level exam.

    Not content with breaking barriers to attend college at just 10 years old, Esther is also writing a series of math workbooks for children called "Yummy Yummy Algebra."

    "It starts at a beginner level-that's volume one. But then there will be volume two, and volume three, and then volume four. As long as you can add or subtract, you'll be able to do it. I want to show other children they are special." she says.

    Charles Darwin lived an unusually quiet life. In 1842, Darwin and his wife Emma moved from London to Kent in southern England to have as little disturbance (烦扰) as possible. They already had two children then, and would go on to have eight more in the country.

    Darwin had very regular (有规律的) habits. He rose early and went for a walk. After breakfast he worked in his study until 9：30 am, his most productive time of the day, and then read his letters lying on the sofa before returning to work.

    At midday he would go for another walk with his dog, stopping at his greenhouse to inspect (查看) his experiments. Then he would go for another walk around an area of woodland. While walking on his "thinking path", Darwin would consider his unsolved scientific problems.

    After lunch he read the newspaper and wrote letters. His network of friends provided information from all corners of the world.

    The Darwins were not very strict parents and the children were always seen running wild. Their father worked patiently to a background of playful shouts and little footsteps walking past his study door.

After dinner Darwin played backgammon (a game for two people to play) with his wife. He once wrote, "Now the result with my wife in backgammon stands like this: she... has won only 2,490 games, while I have won, hurrah (a cheer of joy or victory), hurrah, 2,795 games!"

    Although he had poor health, Darwin continued to publish (出版)a lot of creative works until his final book in 1881. He died the following year, aged 73.

    Rather than a quiet space in the local churchyard, which he called "the sweetest place on Earth", Darwin was given a state funeral (国葬) in London's Westminster Abbey.

WHO'S WHO IN THE ZOO?

    Is it amazing that the WHO'S WHO IN THE ZOO makes it fun for young children to save? With the help of Standard Bank's Kidz APP and the Big Five animal friends, teaching your children about managing their cash has never been more fun. Let the WHO'S WHO IN THE ZOO show your little ones what it means to earn and save money as well as share in the enjoyment of spending their well－earned cash.

Elephant

    As your children use the mobile app to complete various actions—achieving savings goals, completing missions and achieving wishes—here various medals will be rewarded.

    Earned medals are displayed in the elephant habitat as well as locked medals still to be achieved.

Leopard

    Reward your kids with pocket money for completing 'missions': household chores, achievements, etc.

    You can create a mission for your child, or your child can request a new mission. Once created, it must be accepted. The mission needs to be completed by your child and approved by you before you can pay him or her.

Lion

    Help your children create and fulfil wishes. Wish cards and their savings progress can be tracked from your banking app.

    Once their savings goal is reached, lion will inform you of their achievement.

Buffalo

    Kids can request to withdraw cash or purchase airtime and data using their savings.

Rhino

    Rhino shows your child's latest account balance and transactions.

    Download the Standard Bank's Kidz APP from Apple App Store on the phone. Use the comment section to interact with other Standard Bank customers and bank consultants.

    Social media (社交媒体)is one of the fastest-growing industries in today's world. A study conducted by the US think tank (智囊团) Pew Research Center showed that 92 percent of teenagers go online daily.

    The wide spread of social media has changed nearly all parts of teenagers' lives.

    ●Changing relationships

    High school student Elly Cooper from Illinois said social media often reduces face-to-face communication.

    "It makes in-person relationships harder because people give attention to their phones instead of their boyfriends or girlfriends," Cooper said.

    There's also a greater possibility of things getting lost in translation over social media.

    "If half of your relationship is over social media, you don't really know how the other person is reacting," Sienna Schulte, a junior student from Illinois, said.

    Yet, some people believe social media has made it easier to start relationships with anyone from anywhere. Beth Kaplan from Illinois met her long-distance friend through social media. He currently lives in Scotland, but they're still able to frequently communicate with one another.

    "I can feel close to someone that I'm talking to via (通过) FaceTime," Kaplan said.

    ●Wanting to be "liked"

    The rise of social media has changed the way teenagers see themselves.

    The 19-year-old Essena O'Neill announced on the social networking service Instagram that she was quitting social media because it made her obsessed (痴迷) with appearing perfect online.

    Negative comments also can do great damage to a teenager's self-esteem (自尊).

    In particular, anonymous (匿名的) social media apps such as Yik Yak may provide opportunities for cyberbullying (网络欺凌).

    The app allows users within 5 miles (8 km) to create and add comments to everything. Teenagers who get negative comments on these sites can't help but feel hurt.

    ●Opening new doors

    However, Armin Korsos, a student from Illinois, takes advantage of the comments he receives over social media to improve his videos on the social networking site YouTube.

    "Social media can help people show themselves and their talents to the world in a way that was never possible before," Korsos said.

    But Korsos recognizes that social media has become a distraction.

    "Social media, though it helps people connect with their friends and stay updated, is not all necessary."