It is our tradition to remain awake the entire first night of Shabuoth and learn Torah. The rewards for doing so are tremendous. People who are able to stay up are written in Hashem's "Book of Remembrances" and are given many berachot for simply staying up and learning.

Why do we stay up? During the actual giving of the Torah, which lasted all night, Bnei Yisrael were falling asleep. Hashem needed to keep them awake with loud voices of thunder and visually stimulating cracks of lightening. This tradition has been implemented to show Hashem how we yearn to be His nation, by staying up all night and learning His Torah.

People who decide to take part in this grand unifying global tradition, must be careful to not speak of idle things during the night. One must not lose sight of the fact that the idea is to remain awake and learn Torah- and not speak about business or sports. One who remains awake all night does not have to say "Al Nitilat Yadayim" during Berchot Hashahar.