16 Coming of Age in Solitude

Anonymous

I am from Ottawa and remember hearing a friend talking about Covid and how it was present in China at the time, which was in late 2019. I remember he was half joking that we were all doomed, but we were all young and none of us were seriously worried yet. A few months passed, and the first day of the lockdown in Canada was March 13 2020, just over a week after my 15th birthday. I was in grade 10.

When Canada went into lockdown, my classes continued online, which meant there was no more driving to school, no more morning rush, and it brought on almost a new way to connect with people online. I found that I adapted to talking to lots of people almost only on FaceTime or Zoom. Some people I only ever knew through Zoom. I found new ways to be productive with the space I had, in my own home, and away from a lot of people. Some old hobbies rose back up such as playing the violin, and hiking or just simply walking or running. I took more time to appreciate the outdoors.

My greatest challenge during Covid was connecting with new people and with my academics since I made it my goal to study at a top university in Canada. Something good that came out of it was the time it gave me to reflect on who I was and what my goals were going forward. Around the time Covid started, I was already changing as a person and had discovered new inner values and was starting to grow up. Some friends I had before began to drift from my life and I made some goals for self-improvement. For example, I played a lot of video games in grade 10, especially Fortnite. By the Summer of 2020, I was basically playing no video games at all. Furthermore, I started to lift weights and run consistently and I improved my diet. I sometimes think that Covid gave me the opportunity to grow into myself without as much external influence or peer pressure, especially since school was not in-person.

I found that we were fortunate to have the technology we had for virtual schooling, and I think that for me and others my age, we had the maturity to be actively engaged in class. It was great that teachers could directly share their screen while writing, meaning there was no potential disadvantage to where students are sitting the way there is in physical classrooms. One drawback was asking questions, because everyone needs to hear their questions, which can be either a disturbance for other students or uncomfortable for the person asking the question. However, I believe virtual collaboration worked surprisingly well, with Zoom features such as breakout rooms, and the fact that only one person can really talk at a time which allows everyone to hear each other out. I think the long-term impacts on me and others my age involve both what we took away from it and what it took away from us. I feel like I learned how to become more independent and manage my time in an environment with fewer rules and pressure. However, I found that being less social was not particularly healthy for our minds. Being social allows us to relax, laugh with friends, develop communication skills, and exchange new ideas.

I feel like I missed out on a lot of fun I might have been able to have in grade 11 and grade 12, with many cancelled events such as prom. However, I like to view this optimistically as a time where I progressed in many other ways, such as excelling in academics, as a violinist in the Ottawa Youth Orchestra, and spending time outdoors.

I believe the biggest cultural change brought on by Covid was the accelerated transition towards connecting with people in the digital world. I think Covid made many people realize that computers can be even more of a crutch than what we were already using them for. Information exchange and meetings can all be conducted from the comfort of our bedrooms and they can be done efficiently and effectively. I believe that it is hard to measure whether this cultural change, particularly in many white-collar jobs, has been beneficial or has simply changed the workflow. I think that it is unfortunate that many workers do not get to see their coworkers as often as I think that in-person connection is more personal and less functional. However, this might free up commuting time for parents to spend time with their children or loved ones, so it is a trade off and a change in culture.

I think that Covid negatively impacted my mental health because I did not socialize as much. I believe that a lot of social development occurs between the ages of 15 and 17, which is when Covid was at its worst for my peer group. I believe it was challenging for everyone, and people became a bit more serious, especially with wearing masks, which makes it much harder to pick up on social cues or facial expressions.

I think scholars studying Covid 100 years from now should understand that Covid was a challenging time for people of all ages for different reasons. It took a collective effort from all of us to respond appropriately and get through it, but we could have had a better response, and this can be learned from.

I remember the theme of blame was apparent especially in the early days of Covid. I remember a specific social media post I saw depicting a Chinese woman eating a turtle, with a caption reading “Covid-20?”. This was obviously created by someone from the Western world, but it was insulting towards Chinese people as it associated their culture with being less hygienic since we do not see that here and people typically would be afraid to eat something they have not tried. It also blamed Chinese people as a race for causing the pandemic, which is unfair.