At the time of writing this, it has been almost six years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and though we all seem to have collectively decided to repress those excruciating years, it’s clear from recent research that the pandemic has had lasting effects on our mental health. However, I think it’s important to note that not every generation has seen the same struggles. As someone who was 18 in March 2020, I’m especially concerned with how my generation has fared in the last 6 years, especially considering how vulnerable young populations are when it comes to mental health difficulties like stress and anxiety/depression symptoms.
Gen Z includes those born from the years 1997-2012, meaning that as a population, we were between the ages of 8 and 23 at the start of the pandemic. Given this age range, the majority of us were unmarried students at the time. This means that we dealt with different issues compared to millennials (a high proportion of whom were married and dealing with pandemic-related unemployment), Gen Xers (who were more likely to be separated/divorced/widowed at the time), or Baby Boomers (most of whom were already retired with an empty nest).
Social Capital
For many Gen Zers, school was a crucial aspect of our lives that was completely rocked by the pandemic. There are unique stressors associated with this, such as young students having difficulty concentrating on their learning through online formats or individuals from toxic/abusive households having no excuse to escape their homes during the week. But I think the most universal struggle that came out of schooling being moved online was the interference in our social lives. For me, personally, I was excited to make friends, talk to new people, and explore campus in my first year at uni, but instead my days were spent in front of a laptop interacting with virtual boxes of bored faces.
Socializing is essential when it comes to healthy development in young people and a thriving social life and supportive circle of friends can be a huge protective factor for individuals dealing with mental health struggles. Not only were Gen Zers locked inside for months at a time, they also had less emotional and social support available to help them cope with their anxious/depressive symptoms. Even now, I’ve seen many people my age explain that they struggle to interact with others socially or maintain healthy friendships because of their time in lockdown.
Professional Uncertainty
For those like me who are older Gen Zers, we also dealt with the added pressure of an unstable job market. Lucky for me, I was only a freshman at university at the time, and while I was, of course, stressing about the potential for getting a job after my degree, that time was still a ways off. However, some Gen Zers were 21/22/23 at the time of the pandemic and were either in the last year of their undergraduate program or freshly graduated. I know several people personally who missed out on their co-op or practicum placement because of the pandemic and were unable to land a job in their field because they couldn’t get their foot in the door. Others, who relied on their retail or hospitality jobs to financially support their education, were forced to stop working for months on end when the stay-at-home order was issued.
I’m sure I don’t have to explain why financial uncertainty or instability can be a contributing factor to mental health struggles. Not knowing whether you are going to be able to find a job or not, after working 4 hard, long years towards that goal can be extremely anxiety-inducing, and it’s not surprising that the younger generations like Gen Zers and Millenials reported more negative mental health symptoms and sleep disturbances compared to the older generations like Gen X and Baby Boomers.
Third PlacesI want to touch on something that I think is both incredibly important and often unaddressed: third places. Third places are settings that are not home (first place) or work (second place) where we can unwind, socialize, and build community. There are plenty of examples of this, but my personal favorites are cafes, bookstores, and movie theaters. I’ve already touched on how important socializing and community is for young people, so I won’t beat a dead horse. I’ll just say that third places are dying and it is in no small part a result of the pandemic.
During the pandemic, online services really stepped up, and people became reliant on things like online shops and streaming services. While I’m all for convenience, this unfortunately means that industries like movie theaters and bookstores are suffering. The concept of physical distancing and shorter operating hours has also impacted the intimacy and accessibility of places like coffee shops, with tables being spaced further away and people being more wary of others when out in public. Many young people unfortunately ,no longer have a third place where they can unwind after school, escape the stressors of home, or socialize.
So Where Do We Go From Here?Some of the issues I’ve encountered are easier to tackle than others. I unfortunately can’t propose a solution that will magically fix the job market, give people back the prime years of their college experiences, or reinstate their practicums. As annoying as it be to hear, we should focus on the things that we can control!
We can’t give back the mental health struggles we developed during the pandemic, but we can learn how to cope with them. The majority of Gen Z is aware of mental health and have high intentions to and positive attitudes towards seeking help. We can’t change the rise of virtual services and the work-from-home culture that has us face-to-face with screens for the majority of our days, but we can use that technology to impact our lives positively. Online counseling has become a staple in higher education and has been shown to help students care for their mental well-being. We can’t go back in time and make more friends, but we can try to get out our houses more and participate in our community. I have made it a personal goal for myself to go to watch movies in theaters, buy books in stores instead of online, or even simply get my work done at a coffee shop if I’m running low on funds. Perhaps I am an optimist, but I think that while we are all changed post-pandemic, we can always continue to work on ourselves and grow as people.
About Alyssa Nohar
Alyssa Nohar is a registered psychotherapist with Impart Theray, focusing on working with teens and adults who are struggling. She is focused in ADHD, self-harm, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), anxiety, depression, and PMDD. Please visit here to learn more about Alyssa. You can also book time with Alyssa here to see whether she’s the right fit.