public speaking

   

 

   Do you know what a pencil tastes like? Is Chewing a pencil Just a Bad habit? What about if it gives you self comfort? Do you have anxiety or stress? Or maybe just social anxiety? It could also be linked to oral sensitivity? But if you do chew on pencils does a blue or yellow one taste different?  What about an eraser? Did you know that of the 20 billion pencils made each year around the world over 5 billion get chewed! I’m Georgia Smith and I’m here to tell you why I think pencils get chewed. Could it be because of anxiety, stress, or self-comfort? Oral sensitivity or just a bad habit? Well, “are you ready to find out!?” 

 

Do people bite their pencils because of oral sensitivity? You may ask what is oral sensitivity?  Kind of like thumb sucking or biting your nails. Pencil chewing has been connected to the oral phase of childhood development. Some signs of oral sensitivity are bite marks on old toys,  sucking on clothing, liking extra extreme food flavors or constant gum chewing. Sensory receptors in your mouth can be hypersensitive or hyposensitive. What does hypersensitive mean? Hypersensitive means that you avoid some types of foods and you are extra sensitive to certain textures and feelings in your mouth. What does hyposensitive mean? Hyposensitive means your mouth needs more feelings and textures and you may put things in your mouth to stop fidgeting and 

.disrupting in class. Some kids that chew their pencils can be Hyposensitive.

 

Do people also bite pencils because of self comfort if you have anxiety, stress or social discomfort?  The B.C. Children’s

 hospital says that “Anxiety means feeling worried, nervous or fearful. We all experience anxiety at times and some anxiety can be helpful. For example, feeling some anxiety before a test, interview or public-speaking can help motivate you to prepare for it.”  What is self comfort? Self comfort is a way to calm oneself when faced with a stressful situation. Sometimes in class kids when they feel anxious instead of biting their nails or tapping their fingers resort to biting their pencil. Life’s awkward and sometimes a socially intimidating moment can trigger our most self destructive behaviors. These behaviors can occur to try and calm the mental and physical toll that anxiety creates. But you might also be wondering what social anxiety is because I did say something about it in this speech before.

Social anxiety comes from having to film something, read something out loud or having to present projects to the class, parents, teachers, any family or just any crowd. Sometimes to deal with these anxieties kids chew their pencils.

 

Last but not least  is it just because it’s a bad habit??

What is a bad habit and why do people have bad habits? A bad habit is something that is really hard to stop once you start. Most of the time the reason for bad habits is simply a way of dealing with stress and boredom. Everything from biting your nails to tapping your fingers to wasting time on the internet can simply be a response to stress or boredom.  There are so many bad habits  I can’t list them all, but here are a few  like nail biting, tapping things with your hands or fingers, pulling out hair, being on a device all day, losing your temper and smoking. Why is biting your pencil a bad habit? By biting your pencil not only does it increase your risk for germs that cause illness by giving bacteria and viruses a free trip into the body, it also is an easy way to spread those germs to others, too. Is the paint on a pencil toxic to humans? The paint on the pencils some time ago used to have lead in it so it was toxex  but now the paint does not have lead in it so it is not toxic  anymore.  Chewing your pencil may be unhealthy for you. Like chewing on ice, this habit can cause teeth to chip or crack. When you feel the need to chew something, chewing Sugarless gum is a better option.  

 

As you heard there are many reasons why people chew pencils. The question is why they do it and why it’s bad for them. The most likely reason is  from oral sensitivity, self comfort, anxiety, stress or maybe it’s  a bad habit. No matter what, biting your pencil  is bad for you, bad for the environment and bad for your teeth. If you want to learn how to stop chewing your pencil you’ll have to wait for my speech next year…how to stop on chewing pencils.

 

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