Does anyone else feel like the days blend together? Each week consists of the same routine: wake up, turn on my laptop, and then stare at its screen until my eyes start burning.
Between online homework and back to back Zoom classes, I sometimes worry that I’m doing permanent damage to my eyesight and mental health. I feel chained to my apartment. I feel depressed.
I know I’m not the only one.
An article published by The Washington Post found that children were being impacted by Zoom, too. Some of the rules in these digital classrooms include no pajamas, no eating, and cameras on at all times–this can be distressing for children, who don’t have the same ability to cope as adults.
This comes as no surprise to me. I find it hard to believe that spending an entire day on a computer is helpful to anyone, especially children.
Professors (at least mine, anyway), assign so much homework that it feels like they’re trying to overcompensate for lack of face time. Even still, I drag myself from assignment to assignment in an attempt to keep up my GPA.
Considering there aren’t even social buffers at this time where people can let go of deadlines for a few hours to laugh with friends, it’s obvious why online schooling has taken such a toll on people’s mental health. There’s no motivation to get out of bed when there’s nowhere to go.
And so we log onto Zoom from our beds, eyes still bloodshot from the day before, and we stay there until the day passes.
This is not meant to be some sort of lengthy complaint about the sake of airing my grievances with Zoom. Instead, I want to make sure that students, such as myself, know that feeling stressed out is normal.
School is difficult enough as is, but when it’s paired with a heated presidential election and raging pandemic, I’d say it’s more than okay to be upset. School can feel unimportant when the world is in total chaos.
So, my proposal is this: allow yourself to be frustrated and angry. Cry as much as you need (I’ve already had my fair share of tears this semester). But if there’s anything you take away from this, please know you’re not alone.
This nightmare of a semester does have an end, so close the laptop for the night and give yourself a break–you’ve earned it.