Technical Difficulties

How virtual learning forced us to focus on academics and find distractions

By: Uzma Ferdous

COVID-19 has not been kind to the student populace. A pandemic that could have never been anticipated suddenly demanded us to re-adjust all of our routines. For example, the change forced us to completely rely on technology for schooling and communicating. Rather than seeing, feeling and talking in our classrooms, we are now logging in, messaging, and watching. For understandable reasons, learning material through a screen is not an ideal situation. Thus, many of us are still dealing with pre-existing or newfound mental health issues. With no friends to see every day, being stuck in a room, and not being able to participate in extracurricular activities, many of us were and are unhappy. Some experienced heightened anxiety because all we could do was worry about the work to do and could not distract ourselves. I had to continuously worry about finishing my Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science assignments within short deadlines. I was struggling to keep some grades up and could only focus on marks, rather than the actual work. This definitely drained the ‘fun’ from learning. As expected, these habits are destructive and unhealthy. When in school, we could escape to lunch and join a club to maintain a balance between our social life and our academic life. Consequently, screen schooling puts a load of damaging academic stress onto the shoulders of many teens everywhere. We all had to scavenge for some excitement — painting, working out, learning a new skill — whatever we could find to take our minds off of the chaos outside. With no extracurriculars and people around us, we learned to adapt. We got the hang of finding distractions in our own homes. I started sketching again, learned how to ride a bike, tried some new coding languages, and started working out. As I explored my options, I even found myself trying to be part of something. In school I was always anxious and shy and did not want to join teams or clubs. But through a screen, I wasn’t as nervous. I searched for youth initiatives I wanted to participate in and applied for them. I was finally feeling relieved after quite a while. Us students need these hobbies and interests to help distract us from the stresses of school. Although most of us have found a new normal — others are still looking for it. It is never too late to explore or to ask for help. Within this terrible situation, we must indulge ourselves in what relieves our pain. We are ALL in search of something that lets us sleep with a smile. While all this chaos is happening outside our humble abodes, we will push through and find comfort.