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School, Social Platforms & Mental Health
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The New Norms of School, Social Platforms & Mental Health.
You may be wondering how exactly these new norms of school, online platforms and mental health are even possible to process and navigate when no one could have predicted things to go the way they have in the past few years.
Observing the reality of the situation by looking at a few important topics:
School. Pre-COVID, school would have seen a steady increase to online classes and materials. Due to the pandemic, this process has propelled forward at light-speed in order to accommodate as many families as possible. It’s important we note that with any sudden change of procedure on a system as large as the education system that has not changed in decades, the adaptation is not always uniform. Gaps and cracks enlarge where protection was said to be assured and, unfortunately, this creates an unequal system of availability and accessibility. This leads some to say: they should have been better prepared. Though no system is perfect, we cannot expect perfect transitions when no one could have predicted such changes to our society; except this is the third year into the pandemic and one would wonder why we’re still making the same mistakes.
Parents. Today, parents are struggling now more than ever to find the right balance of screen-time and school-time for their kids. For those working at home, parents are finding it difficult to divide their time between their child’s attendance at school, focusing on work, maintaining the house, etc. We’ve hit the point where each parent must commit to shift-work, i.e., share household responsibilities, cook dinner, clean, watch the kids, and catch up on work. For a lot of parents, their lives have become a constant game of catch-up. Parents who have regular shift-work outside of home are struggling to keep a watchful eye while their kids stay home (possibly) unsupervised. The results of such a drastic change in our daily schedule creates rifts in communication between each family member, and family members and the government. When the government promises free daycare for parents struggling, you can understand the frustration felt when nothing of the sort is done. The point here is not to cause controversy, nor protest, but rather to communicate to the reader that each of us must raise our frustrations when we feel we aren’t being represented as citizens.
Social Platforms. Instagram has become a place for individuals to speak their minds and raise their concerns on a personal level. Let’s take a step back: decades ago, the only way people could find out about global events, or for that matter, even local events, was through newspapers. By definition, a newspaper is a body of professional journalists dedicated to writing (mostly) non-fictional stories and papers. Apps like Instagram or Twitter, on the other hand, are not the same. Anyone with access to a smartphone or computer can create an account and write posts online for everyone to see. Therefore, we shouldn’t take information we find on this app to be held as truthful as we would in newspapers. All information we see on social media, or even the newspapers, should be taken with a grain of salt; we should view information not as clear-cut truths, but rather as pieces of a puzzle we must finish on our own. We need to draw our own conclusions, not expect someone to have it for us.
Mental Health. As humans, we cannot be expected nor expect from others to adapt to life-changing circumstances in only a short period of time. We must give ourselves breathing room to adapt to life’s new norms. If we don’t, we run the risk of burdening ourselves with more than we can handle. We weren’t all born with the same skills and abilities, so we shouldn’t expect ourselves or anyone around us to quickly change the way others have been able to. Understanding our flaws is what allows us to properly manage our lives. For example, if I was feeling overwhelmed with my responsibilities, aside from the abundant mention of infections and deaths occurring worldwide, I may sometimes close myself off from friends and loved ones. This may not be the most beneficial way of dealing with stress, but it’s my instinct. Now, if I recognize that my natural tendency is to do this, then the next time I feel a growing anxiousness from my responsibilities, I should act proactively and communicate to my colleagues, friends, and boss how I’m feeling. Also, to assure my mental health, I should reach out to someone I feel comfortable enough with to voice my feelings. In doing this, I allow myself and everyone around me to know why I’m acting the way I am. As important as it is to know our vulnerabilities, we must also know our strengths. Given enough time, we can effectively adapt to these new circumstances with both knowledge of our strongest traits and our weaknesses. All we have to do is trust ourselves. Only when we trust ourselves do we begin to trust the world again.
The chameleon, a reptile known for its ability to change skin colour, adapts to light, temperature or humidity, and also to its emotions. It is not a conscious element to their nature; it is an instinctive element it uses to survive. A human’s instinct is to preserve its way of life when large-scale change arrives; it is only our rationality and consciousness that allow us to reflect and understand that changes ought to be made for the collective greater good. What makes us human is exactly our ability to reflect, and that is what separates us from the animal kingdom. It is what allows us to flourish in the most wondrously creative ways. Take the best out of the chameleon.
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