As the COVID-19 pandemic seized the world at the beginning of 2020, we have seen a multitude of changes occur. By now, it has become less than a risky statement to say, that the world will not go back to what it once was. It has changed indelibly.
In hopes to contain the pandemic and minimize the constantly rising numbers of cases, most governments decided to limit physical interactions among their citizens, by forcing people to start working digitally and implementing online schools for the youngest generations. This resulted in a substantial group of children and teens spending most of the last two years in front of a computer and locked in their homes, rather than using those crucial developmental years to form their social and intercommunicating skills.
This lifestyle change and mandatory solitude from friends lead to an overwhelming increase in anxiety and depression rates compared to the pre-pandemic data, as the numbers have nearly doubled. Furthermore, psychologists are taken aback by a bigger than ever wave of young individuals struggling with eating disorders.
Moreover, since it commonly takes approximately 2-4 years for mental issues resulting from trauma to develop, we will continue to see the spikes in demand for psychological help in the years to come. If it was hard to obtain objectively good mental health aid before the pandemic, now it has become close to impossible. And it doesn’t look as if it will change anytime soon.
Other than with a rise in mental illness cases amongst them, the COVID generation will grow up to struggle with interpersonal communication, as they have gotten used to having a computer as their closest friend. They spent close to two years of their lives without experiencing almost any physical interactions, which patently resulted in their social skills faltering and deteriorating. The beginnings of which we can already begin to notice. It is more difficult for these individuals to form fresh relations and meet new people in person. It has become harder for them to express their opinions on a forum and in general, engage in social activities, as rates of social anxiety spike in line with those of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and others.
Furthermore, the COVID pandemic resulted in further discrimination of marginalized groups such as the disabled, poor and those living in abusive households, for whom it was physically a struggle to attend online classes or mentally disordered, ill, LGBTQIA2+ and people of colour, whose social interaction may take a toll as it was further limited by the pandemic restrictions. As a result, the equality and equity gap within the society has grown larger.
Only a few were lucky enough to receive proper education through online school, as most facilities were unable to offer such service, or what they did provide could barely be classified as an education. Thus, according to UNESCO, prompting around 830 million students to be left without access to education. On the other hand, in many cases where that opportunity was possible, the problem surfaced on the children’s side. But how can one blame a six year old or so for not being able to sit in front of a computer for eight hours straight and work?
Many adults are not able to do so, never mind such young children. This lead to a formation of a deficiency in knowledge from the past two years for many students all over the world. This shortage will have to be accounted for in the nearest future, with teachers having to make up the lost material with their students alongside covering the planned material, which poses a risk of less dedicated professors omitting this fact and leaving the students with a lack of knowledge.
As it is quite clear that the pandemic came with a multitude of problems in terms of education, mental health and quite intuitively physical health, as acquiring the virus in many cases lead to persistent health problems, such as bradycardia, loss of smell, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction and fatigue, what can be done to minimize the repercussions as we re-enter the society, with the restrictions being slowly lifted? To that, there is no one answer, since it is subjective for everyone; however, few general tips can be generated on what can be done to see this transition.
First advice would be for schools and governments to take into consideration that the less than perfect conditions of teaching in the past years affected the students’ knowledge and the lacks in material should be accounted for. Teachers should not expect too much, too soon of their pupils and be considerably understanding as they adjust to physical education. In addition, attention should be payed to possible cases of marginalizing and discriminating individuals in order to prevent them.
Finally, and this is aimed directly at the students, don’t expect too much of yourselves too soon, accept that it might take some time before you return to your old self in academics, as physical education differs from the digital one. It is also okay if you do not return to that level at all, as the quarantine changed a lot of people, and made them grow up quicker, possibly changing their priorities or directing them towards more constricted areas.
Moreover, it may take some time until your body feels comfortable again when spending time with others, you my feel socially drained after spending long periods of time with others, as you have grown out of it, nevertheless, it is mostly temporary and will go back to normal. Remember that you are not going through this alone, everyone was in isolation and therefore most of the people around you are dealing with similar difficulties.
Ola Paprocka
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