Virtual Exhaustion: Pandemic-era learning leads to increase in isolation and anxiety
The COVID-19 pandemic has many schools operating at a distance to ensure the safety of staff and students. While virtual learning protects students from contracting COVID-19 at school, it leaves them vulnerable to other invisible threats.
In Miami-Dade County, students and families complain that programs like K12 and Microsoft Teams make it more difficult to pay attention in class and study. Students who were comfortable with their usual school schedules struggle to adjust, sometimes leading to an increase in stress and anxiety.
Ashley Kane, 32, is a mother to three children who attend school in Miami-Dade County. “My little kid gets frustrated,” she said regarding her youngest child, who is in Kindergarten at Ojus Elementary.
Kane explained that the switch from the K12 learning platform to Microsoft Teams made it more difficult for her child to learn. “They’ve got him on so many different programs: iReady, Teams, Zoom, myOn…It’s so many different things that he has to bounce around.”
Kane said that there has been a lack of support from school counselors and teachers. Kane’s oldest son, a seventh-grader at John F. Kennedy Middle School, has enjoyed virtual classes because he was bullied while attending school in-person. Kane shared that her son has not been contacted by his counselors since before the school transitioned to distance learning despite the school’s knowledge of her son’s struggles.
Triscilla Pacheco, a tenth-grader at Coral Park High School, had also yet to hear from her school counselors. “If you don’t contact them first, they don’t contact you,” Pacheco said, and expressed that she wishes her school would do weekly check-ins with students.
The lack of a traditional learning environment and the noise from family members in her home are described as less-than-helpful. “It’s not as easy as being in-person,” said Pacheco. “I think it’s more stressful and I get more distracted because I’m at home.”
Anthony Vidal, a tenth-grader at Miami Lakes Education Center, and Pacheco both expressed that they feel more work is being assigned now than when their classes were in-person. “We have deadlines, one on top of the other. The teachers have been assigning more work because we have more time at home,” said Vidal, adding that the increase in assignments has contributed to the rise in his stress.
“My stress has doubled or tripled” since the switch to virtual learning, said Vidal.
Since the switch to virtual learning, “my stress has doubled or tripled,” said Vidal.
“My energy is usually based on my emotions and right now my emotions are reaching rock bottom… Last year I developed anxiety, but it wasn’t as bad. It gave me a little bit of a stomach ache. Now sometimes I have to just lay in bed for an hour for the pain to go away because the anxiety is just too much,” said Vidal.
“I think it’s taken a toll on some of their mental health,” Pacheco said about the transition’s effect on her peers.
“Being in these four walls has been a nightmare for me, to be honest,” said Vidal about being at home during the pandemic.
Pacheco explained that she has only left home twice since the pandemic began and both times were for doctor’s appointments. “I don’t go out because I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want to get other people sick. I haven’t really talked to my friends as much as I used to…my social skills have gone down,” said Pacheco.
In June, America’s Promise Association surveyed 3,300 people aged 13–19 and found that a large number of students are feeling increasingly isolated from those outside of their home and certain peer groups.
The APA also found that 1 in 4 of the young people surveyed are experiencing an increase in loss of sleep, depression, and loss of confidence.
Vidal said, “Learning has never been a problem for me, but right now, I’m very stressed. I’m trying to do the best I can.”
Miami-Dade families have been given the opportunity to return to in-person classes. On October 5th, students were permitted to return to campus if they made the decision to do so. Students who wanted to were able to continue distance learning.
In the “Reopen Smart Return Safe” guide, Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said that, “those who have chosen to learn from a distance will experience no change.”
Kane decided her children would continue their learning digitally. “I don’t think children and teens can be responsible enough to keep everyone safe,” she said.
Vidal chose to remain home as well. “As an online student, everything seems more complicated now…sometimes it feels like my teacher is giving two classes at the same time,” said Vidal.
Technical difficulties are one issue that Vidal said have only gotten worse. His teacher’s microphone would often stop functioning properly.
In other classes Vidal expressed that his teachers are often forced to favor in-person students or digital students as they are not able to speak to both at once. The teachers “talk with the [students] in class but since they’re far away from the mic we can barely hear them and we just stand there in silence.”
“Teachers will just have random conversations with students in person and the ones online will be entirely left out,” said Vidal. He described his friends who have transitioned back to the classroom as happy with the change.
