Should this pandemic / quarantine define teens' mental health and their behavior towards their everyday lives?

Covid-19 has sprung and developed into a very serious and deadly virus from the beginning. We were all forced into quarantine for initially a week or two. However, it has turned into a one and a half year quarantine which caused many challenges and changes in many people's lives; especially in teenagers.

This project is a website compiled of various sources which support the question; should this pandemic / quarantine define teens' mental health and their behavior towards their everyday lives?

Photo of teen participating in an e-learning call.

The main issues which will be discussed

  • What was the issue with teens?

  • Why was this happening?

  • What can we do to help them now?

88% of Curie students believe that this pandemic negatively impacted how they talk or interact with others.

Of the 25 Curie students surveyed, 22 believed that due to this pandemic, quarantine has made them more isolated and don't know how to interact/communicate with others properly anymore, and the 3 who believed quarantine didn't change how they interacted with others argued that they had always been quiet and shy.

"It showed how everyone grew differently from the same circumstances."

A quote from an interview I conducted with Jesus Garcia, another junior here at Curie High School. In the interview, he said that while he was home, he never really talked to others unless it was about homework. He also said that people never talked to him unless he reached out first, which he didn't mind but made him think about how differently everyone developed because of this pandemic.

My Personal Opinion on this matter

Although many people believe that young teens are choosing to be lazy or anti-social, nevertheless this pandemic or quarantine should not label our teens as being anything short of depressed. One out of every five teens suffer from depression, which has become especially common in teens because of our long-lasting quarantine.

My experience during quarantine has been difficult, like many teenager's. I liked being home, but hated being stuck in my room all day every day and I was always taking naps when we did e-learning. Now that I leave my house more due to school and going out with my partner, I believe my mental health has gotten better and my social skills are back to how they were, for the most part.

Coronavirus has been the biggest and long-lasting pandemic of the 21th century. It has not only caused panic and fear among civilians, but it has also emotionally affected us all. Especially teens and other youth groups, whom had to attend school online for an entire year. Due to e-learning and schools being shut down, many young kids, especially teens, are affected emotionally and mentally. The stress of having to do everything at home was at an all time high, and it was especially worse for those who used school as an escape from their home. Of course, not having to go out was good but the stress of everything was intolerable. In a survey I conducted with 25 Curie students about whether or not this quarantine has changed how they communicate with others, 22 of them, or 88%, claimed that this quarantine has corrupted their communication skills as well as left them feeling isolated. The other 12% of Curie students claimed that they have always been shy and antisocial so the quarantine didn’t affect their communication skills. Although many people believe that young teens are choosing to be lazy or anti-social, nevertheless this pandemic or quarantine should not label our teens as being anything short of depressed and we should learn the signs in order to help our teenagers grow and develop more. In this, I will discuss three things; what was the issue, why this happened, and what can we do to help now.


First thing is first, what had happening with our teens? During this quarantine, many teens were left isolated and feeling alone because they had to be stuck at home and under strict rules. An article titled “Teens in Covid Isolation: ‘I felt like I was suffocating’” shared the experience of a teenager about quarantine, “‘I felt like I was trapped in my own little house and everyone was far away,” Aya, 14, said. “When you’re with friends, you’re completely distracted and you don’t think about the bad stuff going on. During the beginning of quarantine, I was so alone. All the sad things I used to brush off, I realized I couldn’t brush them off anymore.’” (Goldberg, Emma) The author uses the story of 14 year old Aya, whom has felt just as isolated and trapped as many other teenagers. As a teenager going through quarantine alone, she had first-hand experience of a very depressing time for not only her but for the rest of the world. In another article from the “Frontiers in Psychology”, they gave a pretty detailed description of the lockdown in Italy, “Lockdown and the consequent closing of schools ushered in a new life routine for adolescents, centered on sharing time with family and temporarily interrupting face-to-face peer relationships…” (Positive and Negative Experiences of Living in COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Italian Adolescents' Narratives) This describes exactly how every teenager’s lives have changed drastically during our long quarantine. What with the reduced time spent with family and friends, change in routine, and lack of face-to-face interactions, that takes a major toll on a teen and their development. Moreover, as quarantine lasted almost two years, which is almost 2 years that many teens weren’t able to see their families and friends, teens were bound to have been impacted more than adults which created many unhealthy habits for them.


So, why exactly was this happening to them? There isn’t necessarily an exact answer, rather there are multiple possible factors. As said in the article titled “Teens in Covid Isolation: ‘I Felt Like I Was Suffocating”, the author offers few probable causes as to why teens’ mental health is bad due to quarantine, “The twin crises of the pandemic and the economic downturn have imposed new personal hardships on students. Some are taking care of family members who have fallen sick with Covid-19; others have been thrust into dealing with their parents’ unemployment or financial strain. Being holed up at home makes it tough to lean on friends.” (Goldberg, Emma) Because teens were stuck at home during quarantine, they had to witness and experience many sad and depressing things happening around them. Whether it was watching their families lose their jobs, homes, or even family suffering from death, their lack of social interactions made it more difficult to talk with their friends about such difficult things. This then causes them to feel more isolated and thus diminishes their mental health slowly. An article titled “The Psychological Impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid view of the evidence”, they give more examples of possibilities of why mental health got bad during the quarantine. “Duration of quarantine… Fears of infection… Frustration and boredom… Inadequate supplies… Inadequate information…” (Brooks, Samantha K) These subtopics within the article are implications of things which act as instigators of the irritation that people had felt during quarantine. These make perfect sense, as well, especially when you read their descriptions. Due to everyone panicking during the beginning of quarantine and absolutely stocking up on things, as teens are still developing they would have also had suffered much fear and panic as they didn’t want to catch this deadly virus in any way.


We have went through the what and why, what do we do now though? How can we help our teens get better? In the article “Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Teens’ Mental Health”, the author, Meagan Dillinger, offers various alternatives as to how we can better our situation and take into consideration our teens and their mental health; “Relaxing family rules… Talking with an expert… Trying a web-based program… Keeping communication open while still giving space… Encourage better sleep habits… (Drillinger, Meagan)”. These alternatives are supported by paragraphs which explain what the author means. In this sense, the author essentially gives basic examples of what parents can do to help their teens, which is amazing because many parents who have a teenager going through mental health difficulties often times ignore it as they don’t know what to do or how to help. In assisting the parents, the author helps the teenager just as much. From this, the employee crisis is another instance in which teens and others should get assistance from. In an article titled “Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on work and private life, mental well-being and self-rated health in German and Swiss employees: a cross-sectional online survey”, the BMC Public Health created a study from German and Swiss employees. “Thus, psychological first aid also accessible online should be established particularly for these vulnerable groups. Employers need to assure that they keep close social ties with and emotionally support employees with reduced contract or working hours. Moreover, rapid financial aids are needed to those who have lost their income partially or completely.” (Tušl, Martin) This establishes a solution to the employee issue because of quarantine. Although this study was based on employees in Germany and Switzerland, this is still relevant to us as well as many people have lost their jobs including young teens who work in order to provide for their families. It is still happening to this day as well, as many were laid off during quarantine and now struggle to maintain a job to provide for themselves and/or their families.


To summarize everything that has been stated thus far, our teenagers currently have many mental health issues and for that we must ask ourselves what’s wrong, why it was happening, and what we can do to help. Throughout the duration of our prolonged quarantine, our teenagers have had to suffer through so much alone, and had to see a lot of things and cope with them alone. Even now, this is still an ongoing pandemic which doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon. We must continue to be safe, but at the same time we should not live in solitude or isolation because that isn’t good for the mental health and wellbeing of people, especially teens, who are our future. We must understand them in order to help them, which is why I have provided you with a lot of information. It is so crucial to know the warning signs to help teenagers improve their mental wellbeing before it might be too late.

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