Anxiety On The Rise?

Story and photo by Serenity Bussey. 

At first glance, being able to stay at home, sleep in and have no work to do seems fun, but has the past year and a half of virtual school led to a rise in anxiety amongst kids?

When quarantine first started, I was neutral about it. There definitely were pros and cons about the whole thing. Then, the pandemic really hit and I had never missed school so much.

School is now finally in person, but it certainly isn’t the same. I spend countless free periods isolating myself instead of playing with friends because of a constant anxiety that I could do something wrong. Either that, or that I didn’t fit in. 

It’s crazy to me that those feelings have now become common. I’ve known these people since I was about 3-4 years old. It’s just so irrational for me to think this way and I truly believe it stems from not being around these people for so long. 

According to Pew Trust, many different organizations have declared that, “the pandemic-related decline in child and adolescent mental health has become a national emergency.” Even though students aren’t feeling exactly the same, there’s definitely some similarities, one being the timing in which all of these troubles started to evolve. 

This all could’ve happened between when lockdown first began to when school’s opened back up. There’s many different ways to go about this type of thing. If you notice your friends are having trouble, whether that be socially, emotionally or academically; I strongly suggest that you take their feelings into consideration and continuously check up on them. It’s times like these when support from the ones we love is needed the most.

Serenity Bussey is a 7th grade scholar at Friendship Woodridge International School.