Quarantining has been a big change for everyone, and it has changed students’ lifestyles. We now have remote learning, where we look at a screen all day and don’t get much hands on experience. Now that I have been in remote learning for a while, I realize how it is affecting me.
Remote learning has been a very different experience for me — being a senior, ready to graduate and get a job. After experiencing remote learning for a few weeks, I still think this is just an extended break that will end soon enough. It has been hard finding a workplace for me to do work and take classes.
Other than having my parents around, we are having our bathroom redone. There have been workers in my house for the past two weeks, which can be distracting. It is also hard to concentrate in schoolwork when I am at home because I am not used to having to do work at home, with my dog around and many other distractions. I don’t have a desk in my bedroom and have been doing work in my bed or on my couch.
It is also hard to take work as seriously through a video chat. Now that classes are remote for the rest of the semester, it has been hard to take projects as seriously as I have been taking them.
It’s a work in progress to get used to this, but without having a schedule at home other class time, it’s hard to understand that these class video sessions are actually classes for the rest of my senior year.
Most of my classes consist of group projects. It is much harder to work on a group project when you can’t meet up with your group in person and work together. I also feel that this is giving us more work to do since we are taking extra time to figure out how to video chat and can’t meet during class times in person.
A lot of my teachers are also giving me extra work, even though I still had the same amount of work before spring break, which I think is unfair to students. We are stressed enough about the virus and having extra work to do is hard enough.
It has been hard to concentrate on my mental health through all this. Not being able to walk to class makes me have less time outside, and now I realize I am sleeping in more and becoming lazier.
It is important to stay productive to prevent this. Going for walks is one way I have kept productive. I will walk my dog or just listen to music and walk around to keep myself busy.
Another way I have kept productive is working extra hard on a class project I have. I had to make a social media channel for class and decided to make a fashion account on Instagram. We only need to do a minimum of 10 posts, but I have decided to put more effort in it and am posting every Monday and Thursday. This is allowing me to put more creativity into it. and I am actually having fun every few times in the week, creating content for it and posting. It’s becoming more than just a school project and it is taking up a lot of my day every few days of the week. I also have more of a schedule while doing this.
I have been watching television, but it has been the least productive thing I have been doing. It’s nice to accomplish finishing binge watching a show, or catching up to your favorite shows, but in the end, it has me laying on the couch for hours.
I don’t recommend stopping watching television — I recommend taking breaks. Watch two episodes of your show and then go for a walk or change it up. Play a board game with your family.
I have also taken the time to get into some more interesting shows, like the “Tiger King” docuseries. Educational shows are a good way to feel less lazy and more productive than watching Rick and Morty or some cartoon show.
Another thing I am making sure to do is video chatting with friends. Being stuck at home and talking to the same people every day can be hard. Talking to my friends every few days has been nice and refreshing, and even watching movies at the same time with each other is a great way to “hang out virtually.”
It’s a totally different feeling, but it is helpful for me to get through this hard time. It also reminds me that my friends are still here, even though they aren’t physically here. And, hopefully we’ll see each other soon.
Quarantining and remote learning has been tough on students, but there are so many ways to stay productive and keep yourself mentally okay. As long as you don’t live in your bed for too long and get out of the house, you’ll get through it.