Cred: @nickmorrison
We all know that the pandemic cost us all a lot of isolation, loneliness, and loss these last two years. We have all missed out on a lot of life during these times, but a specific group of people who really had to change their daily routine was students. Schools and universities around the world closed their doors and began running classes online. This was a first for most young people, learning from their bedrooms and not being able to see their friends.
During this time a lot of students struggled to keep their motivation for studying, keep up their grades, or even attend classes. This was a very complicated and frustrating time, and while the main reason this change was made to education systems was safety, there are a lot of negative experiences that came from making this change.
Isolation and Loneliness
Cred: @anniespratt
First and foremost, perhaps the star of the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation, and loneliness. Due to schools shutting down and lockdowns being mandated globally, people were forced to stay in their homes. This meant that friends couldn’t see each other. There was also absolutely nowhere to go as malls, movie theaters, restaurants, and just about everything else was closed.
Curfews were introduced, mandating everyone to be in their homes between certain hours of the day, and if that sounds bad, during lockdowns you weren’t even allowed to leave your house at all. Students had to go to classes online so there was no way to be with friends. All of this isolation from the outside world caused a lot of students to feel really lonely.
Going through something so difficult as a pandemic and not being able to have your friends by your side can really take a toll on the mental wellbeing of the young people of our society. Eventually, it gets to a point where you feel so lonely and depressed that you develop a complete lack of motivation, completely neglecting your schoolwork.
Lack of contact
Between lockdown policies, cancelled events, public areas closed, and schools moving online, students completely fell out of touch with their normal lives. They couldn’t be with their peers during school, couldn’t go out with them on weekends, or even get coffee. In addition, because there was a global super virus that was spreading like wildfire, people were living with a complete lack of physical contact with others.
Students during the pandemic were completely removed from the rest of the physical world and were only able to connect to others through social media platforms. They were unable to hug their best friend or kiss their crush. The only time students saw their friends was through a screen during a zoom call, distanced and isolated from one another.
Adaptation
Perhaps one of the most admirable feats that students accomplished when schools moved online was their amazing capacity to adapt to their new and difficult reality. Students impressively got with the program and were able to continue their education through online platforms. With so much going on in the world during these times, many diligent students were able to keep their grades up and try to make the best out of a really hard situation.
These young people were able to adapt, not only to their new online environment but their entire isolated reality. There is a lot of strength that comes with being able to not only cope but thrive with so many changes being thrown at them. A lot of learning became independent as classes moved online and students were able to buckle down and get through their time online.
Technical difficulties
Cred: @elisa_ventur
One of the most infuriating and frustrating parts of schools being moved online is the fact that it basically happened overnight. Teachers had to move the entire curriculum to an online platform as fast as possible and no one could foresee the issues that came with that. Everything from poor internet connections, lagging, crashes, and other malfunctions, made learning extremely difficult.
Teachers of the pandemic deserve a salary raise because having to digitize everything and make sure it is accessible to every student was a nearly impossible feat, and yet, somehow they managed. To add to all of the technical difficulties of this time, making sure students logged on and attended classes regularly, participated in class, turned in all of their work on time, and didn’t cheat on exams was just not realistically possible to regulate, leaving a lot of students behind on the curriculum and left the teachers stuck with the toxic job of dealing with everything.
Distractions
When you have to go to class every day in your bedroom, it can get awfully distracting. Your room is your place of rest and reset, not work and study. During lockdowns, it wasn’t just you who was home, your whole family had to stay locked inside for months. Being cooped up for so long starts to drive people crazy and it creates a lot of chaos, making it very difficult to focus on lessons.
During online classes students would have their parents, siblings, or pets unexpectedly come into their rooms, causing a lot of distractions. In addition, due to school being completely online, you were able to leave your laptop any time you wanted if you wanted to use the bathroom or get a snack. There was a great lack of structure and order to school during its time online, further making it difficult to learn.
These times were incredibly tumultuous but the students who had to go through all of the difficulties of online school deserve a grand round of applause as they had to experience loneliness and complete isolation from the outside world and the rest of society. When schools moved to an online platform, they had to adapt and endure all of the distractions that came with going to school in your bedroom and the frustrations of a multitude of technical difficulties by having to move entire school systems online overnight.
These last couple of years have been very difficult, but the young people of our society did a marvellous job at getting through it all.
