Karen Thomas

Professor Kylee Pastore

Freshman Composition

1 November 2021

Mental Health and the COVID Pandemic

The year of 2020 was the beginning of a stressful, worrying, yet interesting journey individually but also as a nation. In December 2019, a highly contagious virus was discovered in Wuhan, China that is now known as COVID-19. As soon as it was discovered, lockdown began in China and medical professionals were dealing with multiple cases of this virus. They made it a priority to tackle this situation in order to prevent it from growing into a larger dilemma. However, the virus began to spread into other parts of Asia, then finding itself within the United States and the list can go on from there. This is what started our 2020 global pandemic. 

First, let’s begin with what COVID-19 actually is. In longer terms, COVID-19 is the coronavirus disease that was later abbreviated to what it’s known as now. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease which has very similar symptoms to a cold or flu, but can escalate into more serious situations. It had some characterizing symptoms such as loss of taste or loss of smell, excessive coughing, difficulty breathing, etc. But, with its similarities to the cold or the flu, for some it was difficult to tell personally whether you had the virus or not. It made it an important procedure to get tested, especially if you planned to go outside, whether it was for work or personal purposes. 

As COVID-19 became more prevalent in the United States, it was highly recommended to begin taking safety precautions, such as wearing masks and social distancing from others; meaning standing 6-feet apart from others. However, as cases were increasing at an alarming rate, the nation went into lockdown. Many schools, stores, and restaurants were beginning to close down. Some people began to work or attend school from home instead. In March 2020, schools nationwide made the decision to take an entirely virtual approach. Meaning, for the length of the pandemic, many children and teenagers stayed home stuck in isolation. They were losing the social interaction they were able to gain from school and ability to communicate with their peers.

As a teenager myself who experienced the majority of the pandemic in my junior and senior year of high school, I feel like my routines and mental health has drastically changed compared to how I felt before the pandemic. Before, I had struggles on keeping a consistent routine, but it was slowly getting better and I was getting rid of bad habits. However, as the lockdown started and school became virtual, those habits started to crawl back and to put it simply, I was starting to have a negative mentality. Because of this, it got me to wonder: Through the global pandemic due to COVID-19, how has social isolation mentally impacted teenagers? I wanted to know if other teenagers were going through a negative experience like myself, was it a problem that was large-wide? Seeing how my other fellow peers acted in high school, I was starting to begin to think it was. 

IMPACTS ON FELLOW PEERS

To dive deeper into my question, I started off with those close to me. I was able to take a few of them aside and interview them on how they believe they’ve been affected by the pandemic thus far. I asked each of them questions such as: Do they feel like the isolation from the pandemic affected them positively or negatively? And if so, how and how did those effects impact their everyday life?

Asking them the previous questions made me come to a realization  that social isolation did impact the majority of them negatively, as only few were impacted positively. The same types of patterns were prevalent in them all; being at home for so long made them feel shut out from everything else. And due to the shut out, they’ve begun to feel like they’ve only grown more anxious when it comes to interacting with others and strangers outside. Many of them struggled with anxiety issues before the pandemic, but since the lockdown has started, it seems to have only amplified and made those issues worse. 

But how did those effects translate into their everyday lives? This is where I’ve seen a variety of differences in the answers. Some feel like the pandemic has caused them to become more disconnected with their family, yet feel a better connection with their friends. But, others believed the opposite, the pandemic caused them to drift from their friends, yet closer with their family members. There was almost a balance between the pandemic causing negative and/or positive impacts on their relationships with others. However, they all seemed to generally feel like they’ve lost motivation for everyday activities or even personal hobbies. They found themselves doing things they enjoyed less frequently and rarely found the motivation to even make themselves meals at times. Even when it came to school, the virtual environment made school feel less of an obligation to them and they found it hard to attend classes or even keep track of their assignments and due dates.

Despite the many negative effects that they described to me during this interview, there have also been some positive ones. Some of my peers and my family members believe that this time allowed them to bring more organization into their lives. They were able to gather a better daily routine and they were actually able to find more motivation for other activities, compared to the past. But, although I believe it’s important to see the positive side of the pandemic, the topic of the negative impacts needs light as well. 

IMPACTS NATIONWIDE

As mentioned previously, high schools across the nation all transferred into a virtual environment. Classes were held online and all the assignments were done online as well. Because of this, many teenagers majorly stayed at home. They began to lose the time they dedicated to communicating with peers, but it also cancelled major events. Teens were disappointed to hear when school sports were cancelled for the year, prom was cancelled, and graduations were held online. The isolation causing them to miss out on these sorts of events impacted them negatively over time. Back in 2019, the baseline rates of symptoms for anxiety were 8.1%, but since the pandemic, that percentage has almost doubled, (Spong). And parents were beginning to see these types of changes in their children. According to the National Poll on Children’s Health, 46% of parents have observed signs “worsening mental health conditions” in their children. Through these polls, they observed that ⅓ of teen girls and ⅕ of teen boys have worsening anxiety as the pandemic progressed, (Mostafavi). Due to the lack of social interaction and not having the capability to spend time with friends or others, it became more nervarracking for teens to do so. They grew more uncomfortable with social interactions. Some even began to grow a negative mentality, which grew into even larger dilemmas in some cases as it has caused an increase in suicide attempts by teenagers. There was a “22% spike for children aged 12 to 17 in summer 2020 and a 39% increase in the winter compared with 2019,” (Spong). Parents were beginning to see first-hand how this pandemic was mentally impacting their teenage children. If there was still a possible option to attend school physically and be able to attend major events that they now had to miss out on, it was likely these problems wouldn’t have emerged. Everything being transferred online failed to create a safe space for the youth where they can still feel as connected with peers as if they were physically in school.

There’s a program known as the Teen Mental Health First Aid program, whose goal is to help teenagers to go past obstacles with their mental health and assist them to find ways to steer away from those sorts of problems. And with this as their focus, they’ve observed similar changes since the pandemic. Like mentioned previously, school has been a safe place for many of the high school students, which was taken away. It was an easy resource and there were people that the students could easily speak to whenever they’re feeling stressed out. But, now they’re going through these obstacles alone, causing them to grow worse. The tMHFA were able to contact a multitude of students and they observed that since transitioning into a virtual space for school, many students were beginning to notice a “great deal or moderate increase in depression” and also “large reports of sleep and eating patterns,” (Powder). It represents even more on how teenage mental health has been affected.

This is only generally how the pandemic has initially impacted the mental health of teenagers. However, those impacts were also starting to translate into their everyday lives as well. With increasing anxiety and depression, many teens didn’t feel as if they had as much motivation as they had before, ½ of teenagers started to feel less motivated, (Unicef). Most of their time was spent on a screen, instead of taking time to temporarily go out for some fresh air in order to relax their mind and body. According to the National Poll on Children’s Health, 35% of teenagers mostly spent their time on their phone, 56% spent their time on social media, 64% on texting, and 43% majorly played video games, (Mostafavi). With so much screen time, they were neglecting hobbies they used to do before the pandemic or even other responsibilities such as homework or chores. 46% of teenagers didn’t have the motivation to do any of the activities they enjoyed while 36% didn’t have motivations to do their chores either, (Unicef). Being at home so often, you would typically assume that it gives you more time to be able to explore yourself in different ways, but, it also makes it a lot easier to find time to tackle different responsibilities at home. But, it’s been shown that having this capability since the lockdown has begun has only done more harm than good. Being at home for prolonged amounts of time is something these teenagers aren’t used to, it almost makes them feel as if they’re stuck in a box.

THE OTHER SIDE

Despite how the pandemic and social isolation has mentally impacted the youth negatively, there are some studies which argue otherwise. Some studies state there actually has been a portion of teenagers who were able to gather a better routine in their lives, build better connections with their family and also improve mentally. Many of them seemed to be less sleep deprived and less anxious compared to before. The studies claim that “the percentage of teens that were depressed or lonely” were actually lower in 2018 compared to 2020, (Twenge). Now, although this is an important aspect to look at in the pandemic and see how it’s helped our community overall, it puts up the question of how the 2020 rates compare to those in 2019. In addition, although the rates were lower in 2018, that does not take away from how the majority of teenagers across the nation have actually seen their mental health progressively get worse throughout the pandemic. These aspects are much more significant to analyze because as something so sudden as COVID-19, it’s important to discover ways to help these teenagers and everyone else recover. We need to bring back our community into a better state and bring it back to how it was before the pandemic. Teenagers need assistance to go past the obstacles that the pandemic has caused them to encounter. 

RESULTS & CONCLUSION

How has the pandemic impacted teenagers’ daily and social lives? 

Through both the interviews by my fellow peers and family members, and from studies conducted throughout the nation, it has been seen that many teenagers have lost their daily routines. They spend less time doing anything they personally enjoy and even find it hard to gain motivation to do other responsibilities around their homes. Alongside that, they also seem to struggle to keep up their relationships with some of their own peers or family members. 

How has the pandemic impacted teenagers’ school lives?

Once again, overall teenagers have been seen to lose their motivation for school now that it’s online. Some have grown a preference for it, but others find it much harder to pay attention and keep good track of their grades and assignments. 

Through the global pandemic due to COVID-19, how has it mentally impacted teenagers?

Overall, there has been a large negative impact on teenage mental health since the pandemic has started. It was common for teens to begin to feel more anxious with social interactions and some fell into depressive states. With this sudden increase, it’s significant to bring light to this. With now realizing how much of a punch teenagers have taken due to the pandemic, that should bring inspiration to find different ways to help the youth recover from these situations. Our mental health is important and it helps us function thoroughly through our everyday lives. With the sudden downfall the majority of teenagers have taken, we must encourage ways to bring them back up.

Works Cited Page: 

Mostafavi, Beata. “National Poll: Pandemic Negatively Impacted Teens’ Mental Health.” Health & Wellness Topics, Health Tips & Disease Prevention, 15 Mar. 2021, https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/childrens-health/national-poll-pandemic-negatively-impacted-teens-mental-health?amp. 

“The Impact of Covid-19 on the Mental Health of Adolescents and Youth.” UNICEF, https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/impact-covid-19-mental-health-adolescents-and-youth.  

“Teen Mental Health during COVID-19.” Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/teen-mental-health-during-covid-19. 

Spong, Catherine Y. “As Pandemic Drags on, Mental Health Must Be Monitored.” Shibboleth Authentication Request, Sept. 2021, https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=1214&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=3&docId=GALE%7CA677089741&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA677089741&searchId=R5&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true.

Twenge, Jean M. “Teens Did Surprisingly Well in Quarantine.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 4 Feb. 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/10/how-teens-handled-quarantine/616695/.