The Covid-19 pandemic has shifted many aspects of our society, and even four years later, we are still adjusting to a new normal. Many things have changed such as shifting to remote working and the use of social media to stay increasingly more connected. While there were some positives to come out of the pandemic, many of its after-effects have had catastrophic consequences on people. One of the biggest post-pandemic crises to have emerged is with regard to mental health. While this isn’t all that unprecedented given that the outbreak of the coronavirus uprooted how people lived their lives, four years later, the mental well-being of many people is still not up to par with how it should be.
A study done by Pew Research Center finds that psychological stress was experienced by almost every demographic to some extent, but younger people were more mentally distressed. The study asked participants questions pertaining to their experiences in dealing with anxiety, loneliness, and sleep problems over the span of the last week. The study also asked if they felt stress-related symptoms such as “sweating, trouble breathing, nausea, or a pounding heart” of which 14% replied they felt one or more of these physical reactions in the past week. Similarly, in another study reported by the Cleveland Clinic done in conjunction with PARADE Magazine, found that 74% of respondents within the 18-34 year range have been experiencing an influx of worsening mental health conditions since the pandemic and provides the following stats:
- Stress (33% overall; 42% of 18-to-34-year-olds)
- Anxiety (30% overall; 40% of 18-to-34-year-olds)
- Depression (24% overall; 31% of 18-to-34-year-olds)
- Loneliness or isolation (24% overall; 31% of 18-to-34-year-olds)
While mental health is bad in young adults, the effects of the pandemic on children supersedes previous generations. An interesting find by the Pew Research Center however is that mental health over the pandemic is divided on demographic lines with 49% of girls and 24% of boys having “not good” mental state of being almost and through the entirety of the pandemic. It is hard to explain this rift in the results but social media is theorized to have a role as girls reported more social media usage than boys.
Since the start of the pandemic, parents have been listing their children’s social media usage as one of the top concerns. Given how the pandemic isolated a lot of people into their homes, people and specifically teenagers turning to social media is not surprising. However, given the sharp increase in depression and anxiety amongst this group, parents fear that the habit of spending long hours in front of the screen has been formed and is contributing to the worsening mental state of their kids. The difficult part however, is to break these habits and fill the gaps in the social development of these children caused as a result of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
As the pandemic shifts from reality to memory, it is important to note its impacts especially with regards to the mental wellbeing of society. It is going to take a lot of work to offset the negative emotions, but collectively through recognizing these challenges and creating a support system and infrastructure all these issues can hopefully be addressed.
