Current Affairs

Most of us will have heard of this idea of the Pandemic Generation, also known as the Generation Z. This refers to young people born from around 1996 to around 2010, who have been brought up with technology and internet access, and have lots of benefits. However, this generation has experienced a pandemic, something that future generations will study, like the Spanish Flu of 1918-20. Although many teenagers have learnt important values like empathy, time with family, embracing nature, being conscious of how much they spend, appreciating the little things and being grateful for what they have, most if not all of them have been exposed to months in lockdown because of Coronavirus, overcoming obstacles and dealing with school work at the same time as the loss of a loved one or their mental health. At such a young age, these people have had to grow up and mature, as well as learning to live without things that were often deemed as “ordinary” or “usual”, such as going to school and sitting next to your friend as well as eating lunch together and talking, not having to use face masks or distance yourself from other people, going to eat out regularly with your friends or family, having contact with classmates and many more. But what if I told you, that this is just the start? That the P generation is going to lose some privileges? That things will never be completely normal, or just as they were before?

Many secondary students, such as myself, who are very interested in their studies and may want to go to a university abroad, have been wondering how this virus could affect their chances of getting into universities or being able to travel. We can all agree that coronavirus has changed the student experience all around the world. Moreover, with many country's borders being closed, it is going to be more difficult for students to be able to study abroad or be accepted into universities. College tuitions are rising and many young people will be affected by this. Only very rich or poor (receiving financial aid) people will be able to pay for university. If the middle class children want to go to universities abroad, they will have large debts which will weigh them down and leave them in a worse economic position than they were in before.

In addition, looking for a job is also going to be more difficult for young adults after they graduate. Many businesses are firing employees and the ways of hiring changed. Although some sectors will profit from the coronavirus outbreak, other industries will inevitably be harmed and people in these industries will lose their jobs and not have the qualifications to find another one. There will be more job demands involving online companies, like supermarket chains, healthcare providers, apps like zoom, video games and other companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Netflix and Disney. However, shopping centres, department stores, retailers and many others will lose business. Many shops and small businesses have announced their closing, as with less people leaving their homes or communities now more than ever, there are not as many customers as people would’ve hoped for. Other companies that involve sectors like travel, hotel, airlines, sporting events, restaurants, concerts and bars will be “crushed”. The world is still in the early stages of a severe economic crisis since the 1930s, with lockdown measures, social distancing and lost production. Many entry-level roles were cut and never returned, forcing young people to stay in industries like retail or hospitality for far longer than previous generations, according to Shirley Jackson, a research economist at Per Capita.

Our final concern is our social lives. Now that we have to wear masks and have to be socially distancing it is more difficult for people to meet up or to have a relationship. Everyone knows that things are not going to be the same in a long time, and that meeting new people is not going to work. Studies suggest that this generation’s way of dating or meeting up is different from other generations and because of Coronavirus. Young adults are getting into relationships faster and just “hang out” with people from their school or from their neighbourhood, no one seems to be keen on meeting strangers. Furthermore, lockdown was a “psychological experiment” on billions of people according to the Financial Times and because we weren’t allowed to go out of our homes, we had to be in our own world and this was “especially crippling” for young adults whose teenage years should be one of the times when they’re most social. A YoungMinds report conducted in Britain during the first weekend of lockdown found that, among young people: 32% stated that the pandemic had made their mental health a lot worse; 51% stated that the pandemic had made their mental health a bit worse; 9% stated that the pandemic had made no difference to their mental health; and 7% stated that the pandemic had improved their mental health. Another report conducted in June and July reported a decrease in the mental

health of young people, linked to the feeling of loneliness and anxiety. This led to coping strategies like: greater levels of food restriction in people with eating disorders; worsening of rituals/‘checking’ in respondents with OCD; and an increase in self-harm amongst those already self-harming before the pandemic. The fact that the majority of people in the survey agree that their mental health has worsened during the pandemic and have used drastic methods to cope, shows how much lockdown and coronavirus has affected their lives, as well as all of ours. However, it has had an especially large impact on young people who are still trying to find themselves and figure out who they are, and have suddenly been exposed to lockdown and have had a lack of social interaction for months.

Overall, although lockdown has shown us that we should appreciate the little things and has also taught us values like empathy and taught us skills on the computer and how to work more efficiently with technology, it has also had a significant impact on the economy and mental health of young people, as well as opportunities these young adults could have when they’re older. The mental health of many people has decreased over lockdown and has caused self harm, eating disorders, depression and anxiety disorders as well as causing young adults to be more aware of money and worry about the future. It has also affected our way of life, businesses and the chance to study abroad or travel. The only thing we can do is to social distance and take all the safety precautions so that Coronavirus can be over more quickly and that the economy can be better, as well as also having lots of opportunities for international students to go to university and young adults to get jobs more easily.