Trigger Warning: Depression and Anxiety
The Coronavirus pandemic has changed many lives in a couple of months. The change impacted some people positively while others struggled. Some people lost their lives, while others lost their job, struggling financially, or adjusted to remote learning. In this article, it will discuss specifically how online school has affected students negatively during this pandemic.
As a senior who did part of their junior year online and the rest of their senior year online, it’s very hard to cope knowing that all of our hard work that we put in for 3 years gets no form of award. No prom, graduation, nor seeing friends every day. Now, every day feels the same. It is the same cycle, from getting up, to looking at a screen, then doing college apps and scholarships while also trying to keep my mental and physical health a priority. Many students like myself are struggling with mental health issues that we don’t tell anyone because we feel like it simply doesn’t matter. It won’t stop the constant anxiety due to assignments constantly flowing in at a rate at which it is difficult to keep up. It won’t stop the melancholy feeling of seeing cases rise every day while we type away at a screen for hours. It won’t stop the toxicity of some family households nor the distractions that come from being at home. According to KFF.org, it showed that during March, 23% of adults reported poor mental health during the pandemic. However, in July, 53% of adults in the United States stated that their mental health had gotten worse due to stress about the Coronavirus, which is notably higher than the percentages in March. These adults reported that they were struggling with eating, sleeping, and underlying conditions. Just like these adults, some students are struggling to get up, as well as struggling to eat a meal, difficulty sleeping, worrying about the pandemic, having depression and or ADHD, and no longer enjoying activities that they used to enjoy. This is oftentimes why we don’t turn our camera on or why an assignment is late. As students, we feel alone. Not just in school, but in knowing that our prime years in high school and possibly in college are being taken away while being concerned about the health of our friends and family. To everyone reading this, I know the pandemic hit everyone hard, but please, do your best to be kind and considerate to others. You never know what someone is going through. Take some time for yourself. You deserve it. If you need anything, mental health resources are linked below. You got this, stay strong.
Mental Health Resources:
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