COVID-19: the globally known virus, also named the “Coronavirus disease,” that swept the world almost four years ago. Deaths were in the millions, and it was as easy to catch as the common cold.
Wait; four years ago? To many, COVID feels like yesterday, with masks still circulating and new variants continuously popping up. How could the lockdown, online classes, and everything in-between, have happened four years ago? While this “lagging” attitude experienced by many might feel like an accident, there is in fact rationalization to the effect, one that goes deeper than just a respiratory virus.
First named the “2020 effect” on social media platform TikTok, @that0n3bitxh writes that the “2020 effect” “really is a thing that everyone who lived through the lockdown has, because we all simultaneously experienced isolation for a period of time where all we did was sit in our homes chronically online for a year. [This] in turn made us all have a slower perception of time passing, so now life before COVID seems to be closer in time rather than further, because we’re all stuck in the mindset of time passing slowly due to the isolation period.” Comments on the video tell similar stories; @ozzy_ozburned states that they are “turning 20 in a week, I was 16 WHEN IT STARTED 😭.” Additionally, user @secret_account00288928 asks if “this why I still feel 16?” Freshman Charlotte Ngu agrees with the video and comments. After all, “no one alive today wasn’t affected by COVID. Even if they were on the other side of the world, lived in Africa, Indonesia, or Russia, everyone had to go through COVID in their own way. How people take and recover from COVID might vary, but this video really keeps the underlying principles of what the world experienced.”
Another reason for the distortions in perception is simpler than one might think; change. During COVID, everyone experienced huge amounts of character development, along with the physical restrictions quarantine brought. According to KFF.org, “The COVID-19 lockdown stimulated huge amounts of social developments for teens in multiple aspects of life; changes that would typically take much longer than the three years COVID has entitled.” These rapid transformations have forced people around the globe to be pushed forward into new stages of their lives, with the reality that not everyone has fully accepted the “new them.” This leads to individuals having an incorrect perception of the world and themselves, which could be an answer to the “2020 effect.” Senior Daania Sohail thinks that “while I have gone through a lot of change during quarantine to be the person I am today, I still hold same many of the values, ideas, and goals I had for my life before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
On the other hand, many students experienced COVID in much different ways than Sohail. Sophomore Daniel Shunko states that “I was pretty weird during COVID. I think I have gone through a lot of emotional changes, especially since before COVID started. I would say that I used to be a quieter, more reserved person, however, the isolation period COVID brought made me realize how much I missed social interaction. In a way, the COVID outbreak was a blessing for my social health, even if it was hard to realize at the time.”
The COVID outbreak was not a “blessing” for most, however, and is instead viewed as a breeding ground for darker topics, things like the integrity of mental health. The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) states that in the first year alone “of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%.” One major explanation for the increase was the unprecedented stress caused by the social isolation resulting from the pandemic. This was also linked to the constraints on people’s capacity to work, and the ability to seek support from loved ones and engage in communities. Loneliness, fear of infection for oneself and loved ones, grief after death, and financial worries have been cited as stressors leading to anxiety and depression. Junior Edwin Ortega-Espinosa states that “I was definitely a lot more isolated during that time period, and scared that my older family member would catch COVID; I can see easily how others fell into a sadder state.”
COVID-19 showed the worst parts of humanity, yet, through the struggles, society was able to bond together and manifest the best. While COVID-19 effects may linger forever, it is with these that we are able to travel through new periods of change and become new people. Nevertheless, depression and other mental illnesses influenced by COVID are hard to combat without proper support. If you ever experience feelings of self-harm, do not be afraid to reach out. You do not have to struggle through this alone, and dialing the 988 hotline, or accessing the resources at King County Health Department are great options. The back of your school ID card also has great links and websites for mental health. The world survived COVID, and you can survive this too!
