COVID-19 has been a large part of our lives this year, and still is, with cases hitting almost 410 in Barnet as of 20/10/20. With rising corona cases, comes a lockdown. A lockdown that we have only partially come out of. A lockdown which was placed in March, and brought drastic changes onto the UK, many of which have had a detrimental effect on the youth population of the country.
Many young people found themselves slipping into a worse mental state. In a research by YoungMinds, a charity which provides mental health support, 2111 young people with mental health needs were surveyed in late March to understand the impact of the school closures and tightening restrictions. The results show that “32% agreed that it had made their mental health much worse, and 51% a bit worse.” (Source: YoungMinds)
Staying away from quite a lot of social contact affected a lot of teens which led to many feeling “isolated” and “trapped”. In a survey by Edukit, ( where they surveyed 9000 pupils across England in April-May), the outcome showed that “Feelings of loneliness are widespread, especially among older pupils. Up to Year 8, around a third of respondents’ report feeling lonely “a bit” or “very often”, but for Years 12 and 13 this proportion was more than half, with 20-25% saying that they “very often” feel lonely during lockdown.” (Souce: Edukit). This data reflects the state of mental health of pupils in the uk as it was a wide-ranged survey.
Many pupils felt that they were caught up in something, which they could only view, and not change, like a movie. They felt like they were an outsider, looking into the mess of what the world was, from a window. Being young hasn’t stopped people from speaking out; teens have taken to social media platforms such as Tik Tok and Instagram to express themselves and their opinions. Many pupils took national and international matters and movements into their own hands, and made a difference in how people view social issues. This boosted many people’s mental health as they felt proud that they were ‘making an impact’ on the world.
Lockdown did unfortunately isolate many people, and made them feel alienated, but we can’t forget how it helped many young people find their voices on social media platforms. It helped many people find friends and communities online. Lockdown has deeply impacted all of our mental health, but it also gave us a chance to prove what Generation Z was worth to older people.
