COVID holidays bring lonliness

Upcoming holiday season makes it harder to be social

 By CAROLINE MWITTA

Since the start of COVID-19 in Jan. 2020 in B.C., measures such as gathering restriction and social isolation have made it harder for students to be social during the holiday , according to one expert.

Lidia Kemeny, a director for The Vancouver Foundation, a communityfocused non-profit said social isolation as a result of COVID-19 comes with consequences and future potential struggles of being able to interact with people.

“People are losing the scales and the capacity on how to connect to each other,” said Kemeny.

This is a learned behaviour, when we don't see a model and when we don't practice it frequently, we lose it,” said Kemeny, who was part of the “Connect & Engage” report done by Vancouver Foundation in 2017.

The report focuses on community and social trends in Vancouver, including data on isolation and loneliness and how people interact within their community.

"There are social and emotional skills like communication, resilience and empathy, those capabilities are very important for working and living in complex environments,” said Kemeny.

The 2017 report found that 30% of people aged 18-24 reported feeling lonely “often” or “almost always”, compared to the average loneliness rate of 14% amongst all Vancouver residents.

In a more recent study conducted by Angus Reid Institute, a Canadian non-profit research foundation, 47% of Canadians aged 18-34 reported feeling “very isolated” in 2020, compared to 27% in 2019.

Raine Atkinson, a UBCO Psychology student said she feels like the current pandemic is a unique situation that is affecting young people’s ability to be social.

“The world has witnessed myriads of tragedies,” Atkinson said. “But there have always been some safe areas where young people could meet and share social activities such as dance, sports, and parties. That is not the case with COVID-19, which is leading humanity beyond all imagination,” Atkinson continued.

She said she feels that people are socially isolated and they fear to travel.

“I cannot travel to visit my biological family on the coast,” Atkinson said. “It seems to me that social isolation will cause people to develop anxiety which will lower ability to work.”

Marwan Zeid, who is an international graduate student in management at UBC said that he has not visited his family in Iran for years because of exams and that many international students were in the same situation.

“But this summer, I did not get to visit my parents because of COVID19,” he said Zeid said that this year he was planning to go home to Iran for the holiday, but now because of COVID19 he will be staying in B.C.

MOST AFFECTED CANADIAN STUDY (2020)

Younger Population

Ages 18-34 was feeling the most isolated during COVID (47%)

Lower Income

People with a household income of less than $50k experienced the most isolation (49%)

Job Loss

Those who lost their job are 2x more likely to report that their mental health is poor.

SOURCE: HTTP://ANGUSREID.ORG/ ISOLATION-AND-LONELINESS-COVID19/