One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
1–10 of 130 posts
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#2Of course. As students (born in the internet+smartphone era) they were primed all their life to feel freer in asocial cocooning
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#3> In fact, an almost identical number of students fell into each of the three categories: their mental wellbeing had improved; there had been no change; or they had experienced a deterioration to their wellbeing.
This feels like a red flag on the conclusions.
How does this compare to a normal time period? I wouldn’t be surprised if the random ups and downs of growing up normally resulted in a distribution where 1/3 of students claim they felt happier, 1/3 of students claimed they felt the same, and 1/3 of students felt worse than the prior year.
Journalists are so desperate to publish hot takes on COVID that we’ve forgotten that people’s lives normally change over time.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#4Of course. As students (born in the internet+smartphone era) they were primed all their life to feel freer in asocial cocooning
I'm less inclined to draw broad generational generalizations but it's probably fair to say that a lot of things would have played out differently in a pre-mainstream Internet era.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#5The pandemic started towards the end of my masters and beyond the initial “oh shit” moment, I actually found it way better than I expected because for the first time in my life it was not weird for me to just stay at home, enjoy my own company and reduce socializing by a factor of 5 or more.
Now when I actually have to interact with people it’s in a low enough volume that it’s enjoyable and not the crapshoot it used to be: OK or ordeal depending on the day.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#6> In fact, an almost identical number of students fell into each of the three categories: their mental wellbeing had improved; there had been no change; or they had experienced a deterioration to their wellbeing. This feels like a red flag on the conclusions. How does this compare to a normal time period? I wouldn’t be surprised if the random ups and downs of growing up normally resulted in a distribution where 1/3 o…
> How does this compare to a normal time period? I wouldn’t be surprised if the random ups and downs of growing up normally resulted in a distribution where 1/3 of students claim they felt happier, 1/3 of students claimed they felt the same, and 1/3 of students felt worse than the prior year.
This sounds to me like a distinction without a difference. In both cases, the net result would be approximately 0 effect on the overall mental health of the population being studied.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#7The pandemic started towards the end of my masters and beyond the initial “oh shit” moment, I actually found it way better than I expected because for the first time in my life it was not weird for me to just stay at home, enjoy my own company and reduce socializing by a factor of 5 or more. Now when I actually have to interact with people it’s in a low enough volume that it’s enjoyable and not the crapshoot it used…
I can relate. During my studies I often felt like I ought to make the most of having people around. So much is made of the opportunity to meet people at uni, it feels odd to waste it.
With a lockdown I think I'd be just fine at home or in a student hall, putting the most into studying.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#8Of course. As students (born in the internet+smartphone era) they were primed all their life to feel freer in asocial cocooning
I don't agree with the implication that using Internet and smartphones make people asocial. If anything, I bet those techs helped people feel less isolated than they'd have felt without them.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#9Of course. As students (born in the internet+smartphone era) they were primed all their life to feel freer in asocial cocooning
This seems like one of those occasions where there'd be an "of course" for either result. Sort of an "absence makes the heart grow fonder"/"out of sight, out of mind" situation.
Re: One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
#10Of course. As students (born in the internet+smartphone era) they were primed all their life to feel freer in asocial cocooning
Leave it to an old person to yell about technology ruining people while denying the simple science that some people might feel differently about socialization than others.