Teenagers During Covid-19

The covid 19 pandemic has hit us all with a strong force and unpreparation. Tens of millions of people are affected because of social restriction. They’re losing jobs, which leads to not being able to pay the rent, buy food, pay for tuition, and ends up in poverty. The pandemic has left 135 million people in 55 countries living in an acute food crisis, not only that but millions of enterprises face an very concernable threat of losing everything, 114 million unemployment from all around the globe has been reported since the pandemic started, and 2.67 million people in Indonesia alone has lost their jobs.

Economy all around the globe has fallen into a crisis, failing businesses, closed down borders and public transportation leads decrease of tourism all around the world, healthcare workers are exhausted, overworked and they are risking their lives every day to help the ones that are affected by the virus, and one by one they too are dying for the sake of the people they treated. But behind all of that there’s a shadow that follows the pandemic everywhere it goes, a shadow that becomes bigger anywhere the pandemic steps foot in, that shadow is us the teenagers and how the pandemic has impacted our lives.

An article from the BMJ wrote; and I quote “Widely reported studies modelling the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on suicide rates predicted increases ranging from 1% to 145%, largely reflecting variation in underlying assumptions. Particular emphasis has been given to the effect of the pandemic on children and young people. Numerous surveys have highlighted that their mental health has been disproportionately affected, relative to older adults, and some suggest an increase in suicidal thoughts and self-harm” that alone is enough to describe the fight that teenagers and young adults must face in the pandemic, a fight of mental health and survival that many are facing.

The fight is not over yet even though the pandemic is almost over, after the pandemic ends there will be so much teenagers that didn’t have the chance of being normal, and not doing the things that teenagers are supposed to do because of the trauma of losing a loved one, fighting depression alone, having major burnouts from school, and everything else the pandemic gave us all.

Despite all of the harshness the pandemic has given us all, teenagers and young people around the world are finding new ways to create amazing things, new small business pop up every now and then, social media accounts that are made to support teens that are struggling are becoming more and more every day, opening up petition and charity funds to help those in needs and the problems of the society are also created by young people and teenagers. Teenagers could also support the Government in campaigning health and social measures like 3M by always wearing as a mask, keeping your distance and washing your hands, both in real life or campaigning through social media.

Even though the pandemic stopped us from doing these things in real life, social media and the internet has helped us all to reconnect and to create more amazing things that the world has never seen before, small things that can become big, starts from efforts like this.

This is the shadow of the pandemic but this is also the light that the pandemic created, like a balance even though there are dark days the brighter days are coming, this is teenagers’ opportunities to do more in the Covid 19 pandemic

Author : Lintang Jalu Abimantrana