So many segments of society feel the negative effects of lockdowns, social distancing and the isolation that ensues, but for teens—who are already living their most awkward, confusing self-discovery years—being kept at home just plain sucks. All they want is to get back to normal, see their friends and feel hopeful about the future. Here, four Canadian teens talk about how they’re navigating this strange (old) new world.

 

Riya Chauhan, 15

A photo that shows my pandemic mood

“This photo is of me chilling with my dog, Biscuit. I chose this picture because I’m with her all the time and she’s such a big part of my life now. We decided to get her during the first lockdown, and she’s changed my family a lot. She brings so much joy into all of our lives. After coming home from a long day at work or school, we all get so excited to spend time with her.”

How has the pandemic changed you or your family?

“It’s definitely made my family much closer. During quarantine back in March 2020, when everyone was at home, we spent a lot of time bonding with each other instead of being so wrapped up in our own lives.”

What feeling has been the most common for you during this time? 

“Gratitude. I’m grateful that my family is healthy and safe, I’m grateful that I can still see and spend time with the people I care about, and I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned from all of this. I’ve definitely grown a lot during this time period. Starting high school through virtual schooling made it really difficult to make new friends, so when we could finally go to school in person it forced me to try and make more of an effort to meet people. That would’ve seemed scary to me before the pandemic, but I’m grateful for how it pushed me to be more social and for all my new friends.”

How was online school? How do you feel about being back in class?

“I have mixed emotions about online school. It was nice to wake up a little bit later and be able to do school in the comfort of my bedroom, but it was definitely more emotionally and physically draining. For me, learning was also very difficult and confusing compared to being in person. It was harder for me to stay focused and I found myself procrastinating a lot more as well. I’m very glad to be back in person— it helps me to physically see the teacher writing on the board or talking in the same room. Obviously being with my friends during lunch is very fun and I’m happy to see them every day again too!”

What has the pandemic made you think about the world that you didn’t before?

“It’s made me think about how different every part of the world is. Each country is currently moving at different paces when attempting to get back to our so-called ‘normal life.’ It’s crazy to think about how every country has different restrictions everywhere, but we’re all dealing with the same thing. Before the pandemic, I always thought every place had a similar lifestyle or the same amount of freedom to do whatever you wanted, but now it’s opened my eyes to how we can no longer freely travel and make plans impulsively. There are more things to worry about and rules to follow instead of doing whatever you want.”

What are your thoughts on the future?

“I would like to be hopeful about the future, but I truly think this will go on for a long time, which makes it difficult to be excited. Like everyone else, I just want this all to be over. This whole situation is very confusing since there are always new restrictions, and it feels hard to keep up. I’m also a huge Billie Eilish fan and, in two weeks, I was supposed to go to my very first concert and see her perform live, which I’ve been super excited about since last May, but it’s been postponed for just Canada because of our current restrictions, which is bumming me out.”

A photo of me at my best

“I feel my best whenever I get ready. It’s fun to get dressed up and do my makeup. I’ve recently started experimenting with makeup, which has been super fun! It makes me feel confident.”

Me at my worst

“I feel my worst when I’m at school because it’s stressful and very tiring. Even though I prefer being at school in person, school still sucks compared to doing things I enjoy like drawing and painting.”

 

Lily Nunnaro, 13

A photo that shows my pandemic mood

“It’s pretty messy and I’m giving this look of ‘Yep, so this is how this is going.’ There has been a lot of confusion during the pandemic, so I tried to capture that, but there’s also humour in this photo. I’m kind of smiling, like ‘This is messy, but that’s okay.'”

How has the pandemic changed you or your family?

“Even though my family has been apart from each other, it’s made us appreciate each other more. Every time someone had COVID or there was a chance of that, I realized how important these people are to me. I’ve changed a lot, too. I’ve started to figure out who I am more. I know my style, I know my sexuality. I’ve also watched my little brother grow up through the pandemic.”

What feeling has been the most common for you during this time? 

“I’ve been sentimental over the pandemic and feeling a lot of longing: for friends, family and normal activities. I’ve been longing for this and that and just waiting for it to be over. Sometimes when I do go out, I miss staying home. It’s very confusing. I have also been feeling confused a lot. Why is this happening? When will the lockdowns end?”

How was online school? How do you feel about being back in class?

“Last year, I despised online school with the wrath of 1,000 suns. But I now think that if I had to do it again it wouldn’t be as bad. I have a hard time concentrating in online school and sometimes in real school. I didn’t like my online school experience at the time because it was all day every day and there were tons of assignments that I couldn’t finish. I liked the aspect of being able to stay home, though. I think if it it was done differently it could have worked.”

What has the pandemic made you think about the world that you didn’t before?

“I’ve thought about how everyone is experiencing this pandemic differently and that other people who have different beliefs are still people. I already knew this, but over the pandemic I’ve been more careful to not just diss entire groups how people do by saying, ‘Oh, ugh, the conservatives *eye roll*.’ There are good people on both sides of the story. Everyone is going through the pandemic differently, but I feel like it would be a lot easier if people weren’t so divided.” 

What are your thoughts on the future?

“I honestly don’t know. It’s looking like we’re all just gonna get it eventually. We’ll get antibodies and it might just fizzle out. I hope it’s over pretty soon. I don’t want to keep switching between in and out of lockdown. I hope that by the time I start high school next year I’ll get to have the whole ‘teenager experience’ without being stopped by COVID. I want to go to parties and that kind of thing.”

A photo of me at my best

“Here, I’m dancing, my favourite thing on this planet. And I’m finally taking my mask off!! Dance for me can be like a break from COVID and everything that’s going on.” 

Me at my worst

“I’m giving a thumbs up and I’m all ‘I’m fine,’ but my hair is a mess, I’ve got running mascara and in my head, I’m not fine. This is the kind of thing that happened a lot for me in the pandemic. I wasn’t always ‘fine’ like I said I was.”

 

Brittany Whittingham, 20 (was 17 when COVID started)

A photo that shows my pandemic mood

“In 2021, I got into my first relationship and [my partner] introduced me to the Nintendo Switch and Animal Crossing, the game that had people lining up down the block. It was a little escape from the outside world.”

How has the pandemic changed you or your family?

“My family have become Zoom experts—I feel like it brought the whole family, even the extended parts, closer together. Since celebrations are now online, we’ve been able to share birthday Zooms with our family back home in Jamaica. On the downside, I have an aunt who, while she has her shots, thinks that this pandemic was planned. Other than that, the family has been doing fine—no one has gotten COVID as far as I know.”

What feeling has been the most common for you during this time? 

“Towards the middle of the first lockdown, it was definitely loneliness. People were less talkative and kept to themselves. I turned to apps just so I could talk to people. An old friend from high school invited me to join a game night group on Discord, and that group is now my main friend group. I looked up apps that let people make new friends and I came across Bumble, where I met my ex. We broke up on New Year’s and stayed friends, but now I’m back on Bumble BFF. I’m trying to not get back to that lonely feeling.” 

How was online school? How do you feel about being back in class?

“I only had one semester of school that was 100 per cent COVID-free. School was fully online until last semester, when we started having two classes in person and two online. Being in person meant that I could ask people questions when I had them; I didn’t need to wait for them to email me back. We even had a little party to celebrate us surviving in-person classes again. Since we were only in class once a week, we’d take turns bringing in food to share—it started when I shared a bag of Hershey’s kisses with everyone halfway through the semester.”

What has the pandemic made you think about the world that you didn’t before?

“I kind of always knew that humanity wouldn’t be able to work together if we really had to. You see zombie movies and how split everyone is, making small groups of people they trust and alienating themselves from others. I haven’t had the greatest view on humanity; I liked to repeat the phrase ‘People suck’ often before the pandemic, and now that we have a common cause that should be uniting us, that phrase hasn’t changed.”

What are your thoughts on the future?

“I hope that 2022 will be the year where people put their feelings aside and work together to end this. I honestly worry this will last until 2030 at the rate we’re going now. We’ve had multiple epidemics over the years, and while they’re not as viral as COVID, with people working together we’ve been able to push through.”

A photo of me at my best

“When the pandemic started, I was doing all I could to keep myself busy. After school finished and my friends started answering their phones less, I decided to take up a hobby. I started painting on my balcony during the summer. I tried regular painting, but splatter paintings came out the best. I gave some to friends and family and even sold a few. When it got colder, I bought a tarp to put on my living room table, so I could continue painting in the winter.”

Me at my worst

“The worst was having to interact with people solely online. We had fun talking on Discord and having video chats, but it’s not the same as seeing people in person.”

 

Riley King, 18

A photo that shows my pandemic mood

“Since we had so much time to ourselves during the lockdown, I decided to shower and do my makeup every day. I was very on top of my self-care since I had to time to relax and focus on myself. This photo is from one of those days where I did my makeup and felt pretty.”

How has the pandemic changed you or your family?

“A lot of us began to take up new skills and/or got better at skills we had. I began to paint, my mom started to work out more and my dad started to play guitar a lot more than he used to. We also watched tons of movies as a family that we didn’t get to watch before when we were were always busy.”

What feeling has been the most common for you during this time? 

“Anxiety and depression were prevalent for me during the lockdown. Just knowing that every day was going to be the same, at home, and there was nothing I could do about it. Another factor that lent to these feelings was loneliness. I’m a very social person and not being able to see my friends was very hard. FaceTime isn’t the same as seeing people face to face. I was also not playing hockey, as all the rinks were shut down, which was very hard for me because hockey is a place that I rely on to escape my emotions.”

How was online school? How do you feel about being back in class?

“Some students did great in online school—not me. I am beyond happy to be back in class. It was really hard to follow along with a class when I wasn’t sitting in a classroom. There were also a lot of teachers who were just as new to online school as we were, which made it hard for them to teach. I’m the type of student that needs to ask questions when I need to, but it was hard to unmute and do that as this disturbed the whole lesson. It made me fall behind, which was reflected in my marks. I was struggling so much I even had to drop one of my classes. It was also very easy for me to just fall asleep in class as most of the time my camera was off and I joined from my bed.”

What has the pandemic made you think about the world that you didn’t before?

“It made me look at everything from a different perspective. Before the pandemic, going to the mall, school, hockey practice, seeing friends and family, etc., was just something you did every day. I never thought those simple things could get taken away. It made me notice how valuable life really is and we take so many things for granted.”

What are your thoughts on the future?

“There’s definitely a fear in the back of my head that we’re going to go back into lockdown again and have to go back to where we were. I had to celebrate my 17th and 18th birthdays in lockdown, although, there is looking like there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m back to hockey and back to full-time school. So it’s hopeful for me to finish my senior year as planned. Another thing that I’m looking forward to is starting university on a clean COVID-free start—normally, and not from my bedroom.

A photo of me at my best

“Although I wasn’t allowed to play hockey with my team or even be on the ice, I still trained to improve my skills in my garage. I have fake ice set up on the ground, which makes it easy for me to shoot and stick handle.” 

Me at my worst

“Here you can see me and my hockey team on Zoom. It was really hard for me not to see these girls every day, as we saw each other almost every other day.”

 

    More Gen Z