Home-based Learning (HBL) seemed almost like a fever dream to me. Being stuck at home and not seeing my friends was extremely mentally draining, and the experience is not something I’ll ever be able to forget, especially since it was such a sudden occurrence. Most schools worldwide were ill-prepared, and as a result, resulting in a mess of a situation. Thankfully, many have returned to face-to-face learning, though there are still students around the world who are confined experiencing school through a computer screen. Those of us who are are able to return to face to face learning should be grateful for our situation and privilege.
Some schools opted to conduct online recess. A teacher turns off their camera and microphone and lets children converse amongst each other, mimicking the kind of communication children would have during breaktimes at school. This made my heartbreak, as the face-to-face conversations I would have with my friends when I was younger were my favourite parts of the school day. These monitored interactions resulted in students not being able to fully share their views, and the lack of physical presence can make it difficult for students to actually feel connected to those around them. The long term effects of HBL are beginning to become more and more apparent in our generations.
Whilst students have been able to become more tech-savvy, there are serious concerns regarding their ability to interact with one another in a face-to-face setting. HBL takes away a very important aspect of social interaction at a developing age, which is communication with people you normally wouldn’t actively choose to converse with. For example, in HBL, it’s easy to ignore a message from a classmate you dislike. However, for those of us who have done many years of face-to-face learning in important stages of life, we have developed the skills to put such feelings aside and make civil conversation with each other. Such a crucial life skill may not necessarily be present in Gen-Z and Gen Alpha in post-pandemic life. Gen-Alpha was born from 2010 onwards, and many cannot remember a life without masks, social distancing and COVID-19 restrictions. These impacts will be a lot more prominent in them.
We can see this through the use of social media, in which many simply block people they do not wish to interact with. And in some cases, this is useful, especially regarding bullying. However, it has boiled down to ‘if you disagree with someone, just block them’.
Picking up subtle social cues such as body language is also lost through the screen, as people’s face is typically the only thing shown. Body language makes up the majority of non-verbal communication and is necessary to understand in order to ‘read between the lines’. Nuances of conversation are lost through text, and a screen freezing or audio cutting out midsentence does not help either.
A lack of in-person social interaction may cause serious detriments to a person’s life. For example, it increases the likelihood of anxiety and depression, and in the long run, heightens the chances of dementia according to a study conducted in the University of New South Wales. In 33 studies, containing a total of 2,370,452 participants, social isolation increased the risk of dementia by 50%, especially for young adults and college students who were living on their own for the first time when the pandemic hit. Some may not have had the skills necessary to cope with the stress of being on their own, but for others, it was a refreshing breath of fresh air.
As for teenagers and older children, many have turned to social media to communicate with friends and family, with platforms such as TikTok and Twitter gaining popularity during the height of the pandemic. Not only did this facilitate communication between friends, but also allowed many people with public accounts to reach a wider range of people.
This means that a significant emphasis has been placed on social media as it’s the primary outlet that younger people use to express their views and opinions. However, the fact that it could potentially reach large audiences increases the prospects of bullying, phishing, scams and grooming. TikTok has shifted from a kids app to having a target market of young adults and teens, as many other people also downloaded it during lockdowns. Social media mimicked the social interaction one would have on a day to day basis with some key differences. Things that would have normally been shared with close friends may be shared with thousands instead. The sentiment towards what is deemed ‘appropriate’ for the internet has significantly changed as a result.
Furthermore, the amount of political tribalism has increased significantly over the last two years as a result, as politics has quickly found its place in the foundation of social media. This was exacerbated over the past two years as elections in some countries were conducted, as well as other major political events. Instead of people getting their news front the TV and newspapers, they turned to social media as a quick alternative. This forces impressionable young people to make quick decisions on the parties they support, despite a lack of proper research. Platforms such as TikTok heavily rely upon users curating their feed, and the algorithm tries to match the tastes of the user. This increases confirmation bias, creating echo chambers of opinions that are difficult to escape. While also present in real life, this issue is much more prominent on such platforms.
HBL also significantly highlighted systemic inequalities in the education system, as most of the remote programs relied on the assumption that the average student had reliable and working wifi and devices to participate in classes from. However, those who were unable to afford such accommodations have suffered during this process.
So what does this mean for our future? Many places worldwide are beginning to open up, and numerous students have already made their way back to in-person learning. But as a result of many children having their lives significantly disrupted during their formative years, there is a likelihood that certain fundamentals that society holds will change. Primarily, the way social interactions are conducted, such as emphasis on body language and non-verbal communications receding. On the bright side, significant problems have been highlighted, and hopefully will be rectified. Will, we as a society change drastically? Only time can tell.
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