Strategies for Young People in the Age of COVID

By: Jack Ziluck and Jonathan Richards

When COVID-19 was first discovered in November of 2019, many did not expect that it would spread so rapidly and extensively throughout the world, hampering businesses nationwide and worldwide, while exacerbating isolation. Additionally, with the nationwide crisis and the resulting losses and changes that young people in particular have endured, many of them have struggled to become accustomed to the new normal in the aftermath of the initial outbreak. In this article, I interviewed multiple people between the ages of seventeen and twenty-nine, to see how they dealt with the isolation resulting from COVID, and to learn of their strategies for getting through day-to-day life.

Teddy Fronczak is from Portland, Oregon and is a twenty-year-old rising junior year at Florida State University. When COVID-19 initially shut down the nation in March of 2020, Teddy was a senior in high school. Due to the shutdown that resulted from the pandemic, he missed out on graduation, prom, and other senior events with his friends. I asked Teddy what he did during the lockdown to keep busy. Teddy said he worked at Dutch Bros, not only to maintain productivity, but also to make some money. He also did a lot of working out, which helped him maintain focus and mental clarity for his schoolwork. He leaned on his family and friends as his support system when dealing with stress or anxiety. Teddy learned how to cook, went hiking, spent a lot of time with his family, and facetimed friends. Teddy suggests that during difficult or lonely times resulting from COVID or from other events, that one should pick up new fulfilling hobbies, such as reading or cooking. Teddy suggests that these activities help with anxiety or similar forms of mental and emotional health issues. Teddy personally regrets not doing more reading during the lockdown. When I asked Teddy if he had COVID, he stated that he has had it before. I got some of his suggestions on what he did during his isolation period; he said he slept a lot, watched Netflix, and made sure to stay connected with friends and family to help pass the difficult time.

Jonathan Richards originally is from Kingston, Jamaica and is currently 24 years old. He was a senior at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., when in March of 2020, he officially lost his graduation ceremony to COVID, as well as the last few months with his friends up there. When Jonathan had to return home to his family in Florida, he spent a lot of his free time: job searching, preparing for LSAT, looking up law schools, thinking about his future, and doing schoolwork. Jonathan made sure to rely on his family, former roommates, and friends to help him through stressful and anxious times. He also took the time to reach out to family in Jamaica, that he had not seen in a while, with an intent to build better relationships with them. Jonathan struggled with finding motivation in completing his final round of studies during the last 3 months of school. However, Jonathan states that taking up reading as a hobby, as well as having a strong support system in his immediate family, was very therapeutic for him, and helped him push through the last few months of his academic career at Georgetown. During the initial lockdown, in addition to reading, Jonathan engaged in more new hobbies which included following basketball, doing zoom meetings with friends, and cooking. Lastly, Jonathan states that having powerful conversations with his family and friends on significant global events and movements occurring at the time, influenced him to think more critically about ongoing socio-political and economic issues, as well as on ways to make a difference in his community.

Samantha Van Helden is from Coral Springs, Florida. She is 21 years old and is about to start her first year of law school at the University of Miami. She was a junior at the University of Central Florida during March 2020. Sam loved working out at the gym but could no longer do this due to the initial COVID outbreak. Additionally, her boyfriend, who is currently in the Marines, was not able to leave the base he was situated at, during the initial outbreak, to visit Sam. Sam states that not being able to re-connect with and see her boyfriend, deeply affected her happiness at the time. I asked Sam if she previously had COVID, and she said stated that she did. She was staying with her boyfriend at the time and quarantined with him and his family. They played a lot of board games and watched movies together. During the lockdown, Sam relied on her family as her support system. She stated that to pass time, she watched a lot of TikTok, hung out with her family, and focused on her online classes. Sam had switched her classes to an online format right before the semester that COVID had come around. She found it easier to work at her own pace and watch online lectures. Sam said that during Covid, her hobby was working on her new workout page that she had started. She focused more on her career path and figured out what she wanted to do in life. Her biggest realization during COVID was just how important her family was to her, and as a result, she has been more deliberate about spending time with them.

Brett Unger is from Parkland, Florida. He is currently 19 years old and is heading into his sophomore year at the University of Florida. He was a junior at high school in March of 2020 when COVID hit hard. Brett liked watching sports games and playing basketball with his friends; hobbies that were deeply and negatively affected by the shutdown. Brett had a unique hobby that he developed throughout the lockdown, which was developing a social media account based on calendaring, where every day he would post a holiday(s) specific to the date, as well as additional significant events that occurred on said date(s). Brett spent a lot of time studying Instagram’s algorithm to aid him in building his own following. His account currently has a little over 67K followers and is growing every day. Brett also played a lot of basketball at his house, watched Netflix, and did running, to help pass time during the lockdown. With his growing Instagram account, and other hobbies, Brett was able to find a great work-life balance during the shutdown. Brett suggests that for anybody who is going through a tough time, to find what they love, and to work as hard as possible at it.