Two years of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have led to arrested development of emotional and social skills in teenagers. It is as if almost two years of living under lockdown have robbed teenagers of two very crucial years in their development. The impact of this will be felt in the years to come.
Online learning that took place during the two years of learning, while being a lifesaver, might have also led to an unfortunate exacerbation of the disturbed mental and emotional growth of the youth belonging to all age groups till the age of seventeen. Online learning exposed children in their most impressionable ages to a rather distorted, virtual and mechanical view of the world.
The net result of the two years of the Pandemic and the consequent phases of lockdown has resulted in students becoming more confused, aggressive, stressed out, argumentative, and emotionally vulnerable to a degree that is most alarming. Students have become louder as they strive to make a point, not on the merits of their arguments, but rather to be heard. Submissions of projects are delayed as students struggle to meet deadlines in the physical world having worked in a more flexible virtual world. Punctuality in school has become a problem as now students need to reach school on time whereas earlier they could join the virtual class in their pyjamas while lying in their beds, of course with their cameras switched off (poor bandwidth being the culprit).
Two years of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the resulting periods of lockdown have robbed children of two important years of emotional and social growth. Being cooped up within the confines of their homes robbed children of the opportunity to socialise with other children in the physical space. This in itself points out the need for children to interact with each in the physical space, to role play and make strong social connections. Children who interact with each other in the physical space learn important coping skills and adjustment strategies; they learn to be better listeners, share ideas, and convince others, besides picking up important linguistic skills.
The Covid-19 Pandemic and the resulting lockdown have resulted in what I would term, an 'arrested emotional development' in children! Parents have expressed hopelessness in addressing serious behavioural issues in their children while the children themselves have expressed disagreement with their parents regarding important matters. This has led to a situation where children are more likely to trust their peers more than their parents or even teachers. We have created a generation of confused teenagers struggling to find their way through a chaotic world transitioning into a virtual world of LMS platforms while parents and teachers have yet to have to get to terms with virtual platforms.
We are now living in a rather chaotic world divided between teenagers struggling to find meaning in life and adults - grown-ups who are themselves struggling to discard and unlearn what they have learned throughout their lives. Imagine living in a world that teaches you that all your parents' wisdom is not obsolete and that you need, instead to adapt to a new world order that is based on LMS Virtual platforms. What would you choose, an actual physical world or a virtual world that is enhanced by Artificial Intelligence? Lockdown and the resulting virtual learning platforms that we have had to depend upon have created an entirely new world order that debunks the culture and philosophy of the previous one. How do you reconcile the values of punctuality, honesty, patience, plodding and respect with the values of instant gratification, gate-crashing, gaslighting, copy-pasting, web-surfing and the resulting instances of plagiarism?
Teenagers are finding it difficult to address real-life problems because now that they have returned to the physical world they have to face challenges that were absent during the lockdown. The very need to wake up in the morning, get ready for school, catch the bus and reach the class on time, resisting the temptation to talk to an acquaintance on the way have all added to the stress of reverting to the normal world. Getting back to the 'Normal' from the 'New Normal of the virtual world' has added to the emotional confusion in teenagers leading to serious mental stress.
The virtual platform has made us lazy, and complacent in terms of submissions. We can now copy-paste stuff from the internet; so, then why do we need to slog in the library studying from books that are readily available online? The virtual platform of learning and ease of access to websites with readymade materials have destroyed the very concept of hard work, perseverance and patience in teenagers studying in schools and colleges. There is a clash of cultures between teenagers and adults, parents and teachers whereby the meaning of rigour and hard work in academics has changed completely from what it meant in earlier times. It is this clash of cultures that has led to emotional and mental turmoil in teenagers. Unfortunately, teachers, elders and parents are themselves undergoing an emotional upheaval of sorts which ill-equips them to handle problems in teenagers. The need of the hour is for schools, colleges and education boards to address emotional and mental problems being faced by teenagers post the Pandemic. What the Pandemic and the resulting lockdown have done is to accelerate a process of transition from one world order to another one, something that, in normal circumstances would have taken decades!
The world is going through a crisis in the field of education where we need to instil timeless values that have been handed over to us down the generations. Social values have become diluted and modified by the demands of living in a rather unreal, virtual world that is defined by what we are able to see on the screens of our internet enabled devices. We are living on the cusp of change, a civilisation driven by the exigencies of a pandemic that has forced us into a culture that is undergoing rapid transformation. Our children are at stake even as they struggle to identify their roles in a world that is shifting its priorities from that of the physical world to one that is more virtual in nature.
The crisis of change has been driven by the Covid-19 Pandemic and its accompanying lockdowns. Students, especially those belonging to the vulnerable age group of 15 to 17 years. I have mentioned this age range because students aged 15 are usually in grade ten, the first major written summative board exam in India and students reach grade 12 by the age of 17 which is the final major summative board exam in India after which students graduate from school and seek admissions in colleges. Students of grade 10 were not able to sit for their written summative board exams because of the Pandemic with the result that, now, when they are studying in grade twelve, they have very little idea about how to prepare themselves for the grade 12 board exam with the result that they have started panicking and stressing themselves out. This stress has added to their sense of confusion leading to a number of behavioural problems.
