Around four years ago on March 13, 2020, we were excitedly sent home from school for two weeks because of a health concern: COVID-19. What we didn’t realize was the seriousness of the disease and how soon it would take away our ability to learn normally, and more importantly, spend time with others. During this time, we were isolated from one another and had to learn how to keep ourselves entertained, which mostly consisted of binge-watching our favorite tv-shows. This isolation made it much more difficult to transition back to normal school because of how badly being alone for eight hours or more a day affected our mental health

Just in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the “…global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%” (World Health Organization). Some of us forgot how to interact with others because we were mostly staying in our homes all day with close family members only. Although this may have connected families on a deeper level, it tethered the excitement in going to the malls, movie theatres, or restaurants to spend time and build closer bonds with friends. In fact, “…the domestic box office plunged 80% to just $2.3 billion — and a full $1.8 billion of that rolled in during the first three months of the year when life was still barreling along in pre-pandemic normalcy” (cnet.com).

The pandemic was a worldwide experience for teens, and most of us wish we could get some time back to live a normal, non-limiting life. Anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders that many people gained over the isolation time made a great impact on our lives and is only one negative effect of this traumatic event we had to endure. Since then, most of us have healed completely or are working on it and are moving on to ensure we are living our lives to the fullest without the presence of a disease that harms people both physically and mentally.