This is so fucking shit for young people

[ssd]

Yeah i know its shit for everyone before you pounce on me

But imagine being around 20 just now...no pubs, no nightclubs, no jobs around, no buzz in your town centre, no excuse to dress up in something new, or planning your latest night out, meeting your pals and all the excitement of the night ahead.

Its just so fucking shite.

I got the train home tonight from work, Glasgow city centre is a ghost town. Places that were always busy boarded up, of course everything except like of newsagents and tesco's shut. Its Friday night. It was always jumping when i was young, absolutely jumping. It was dead. On the train was a bunch if young boys, playing music a bit too loud, all singing along....going home from the city centre at 6pm!!!!. I could have cried watching them all, a nice sunny evening and the only place they are heading was back to mum and dads, or a local park maybe, i dont know. They were about 18, casual dressed, haircuts, all wanting a good time with their pals and probably hoping to meet a partner if they were single.

Where is the life for these kids???

This has gone on long enough. I dont care if i never see inside a pub again. I've had a brilliant social life at that age. Now they have fuck all.

Its too much.

Completely agree. I have been on board with lockdown for the much of the last 13 months not least to protect the most vulnerable (first wave, mostly the older generation) and those working in the front line.

But I see what our younger people have missed out on (and some will be in debt for) and will never be able to get back and it seems to me that their sacrifice is huge and no-one seems to be advocating for them.
So glad that my kids are younger but feel so sorry for the 16-25s, they are have missed and continue to miss out on so much.

The modellers need to have a look at that now as the vaccine programme progresses, their needs should be given greater consideration.

Also for a grown up to miss out on a big birthday it's a bit rubbish but hey, it's only a birthday. My niece and nephew and all of their friends have missed out on their 18th birthdays, their a-levels, visiting universities and going out partying.

[quote 1dayatatime]@LatteLoverLovesLattes

"No there wasn't

Millions in the U.K. would have died (of all ages) if we had just allowed the virus to run rife. "

+++++++

So firstly it is impossible to say how many in the UK would have died " if we had just let the virus run rife" so where exactly you get your analysis of "millions of deaths" is at best intriguing or at worst just made up.

However we could look at Brazil which has had less minimal restrictions than the UK but is currently suffering less deaths per 100k population than the UK. Even the Government scientists put the worst case scenario at 500k deaths but in any event not in the millions.

Secondly " deaths of all ages" - again i am intrigued how you arrived at this conclusion or did you just make that up as well? The NHS website shows the average age of death from Covid to be around 82 and the numbers for the under 20s the last time I looked was around 35.

So yes I will restate my original post that there was a choice between young people's futures and the over 80s.[/quote]
what fucking planet are you on? You are putting Brazil as an example of why we should have just cracked on with it?? They are in the worst health crisis imaginable. Drs reporting that patients are being intubated without sedation. Oxygen shortages and rationing.

@PomLikeTheBattle

The lockdown was to protect vulnerable groups but the majority of the vulnerable were the elderly. Young people have given up a lot - baffling you choose not to acknowledge this.

There are millions of vulnerable younger people.

You didn't want to protect CEV children?

DS second year uni - first year cut short. Second year not quite what he was expecting.

DD had her 18th in lock down. Uni choices virtually. Sixth Form not been what she expected. Socialising minimal.

Feel so sorry for them.

Yup proper crap....my ds (19) has been fortunate with a job to keep him busy, thank God he would have gone mad at home all year. He was having such a good time befor covid hope they get some of it back before too long..

@cyclingmad *"All these young people, all they have had is an early welcome to how utter shit life can be sometimes. That sometimes life doesn't go the way its meant and all you can do is adapt and make the most of whatever the situation is.

Welcome to the Real world where things don't go the way we expect them to do."*

I completely agree with you.

@Tealightsandd

It's massively shit, but it's even more shit for elderly. At least the young will have a chance to make up for lost time.

I couldn’t disagree more. You can’t get some of these big life experiences back. Going to Uni as an 18 or 19 year old is a one time thing. It’s not the same trying to go as a 20+ with all the new 18 year olds. Just not the same at all. Those of us who have been to Uni pre covid and had a good time will know that it’s an extremely special time in your life that you can never get back. The memories last a life time. I am mid 40’s now and I consider years 1 and 2 of uni to be the most fun of my life so far. It’s also totally shit for women having their first baby. Again you can never get that experience back and making friends in the same position to discuss this huge change and having the support is crucial- you can’t get it back. As you get older and kids are grown , to most people the years are similar. They flick by and you hardly notice that 2/3/4 years have passed. Did I do that in 2017? 2018? Etc. The elderly I do feel sorry for are those in a care home during first lockdown who couldn’t have family visit or who died with no one able to be there. However after that first lockdown this has not largely been the case and support bubbles were allowed.

@Tealightsandd I didn’t say that as you well know. What an unpleasant thing to say, yet you are being us judgemental about others.

DS celebrated 18th in lockdown without mates. No school leavers graduation ball, no results day get togethers, no prizes on prize day, no freshers' fair or freshers' balls at uni, no lectures or seminar groups where you meet like-minded people, no societies where you meet people with similar interests, not even a uni cafe or bar open to casually bump into people. All internships cancelled, all uni trips away cancelled, no Christmas retail jobs, no summer jobs in the hospitality industry, no cheap holidays with too much sand, booze and sun, no festivals. I feel so so sorry for them. Two academic years of this so far with no sign of let up yet.

YANBU I feel like the teenagers and young people will feel the affects of covid long term whereas most other groups will recover quite quickly from this.

@wasgoingmadinthecountry

savethegrannies

The young have been treated like second class citizens from day one of this. Its a fucking disgrace. I've fallen out with a couple of baby boomers over this I dont mind admitting. They simply do not get it, they have nice comfy pensions which won't be touched when it comes to paying for all this, and all have been just continually moaning for everybody get the sodding vaccine so they can get on with their cruises.
They can say what they sodding like, they would not have been so content to ensure we all 'stayed home and protected the NHS' if it was them losing their homes and jobs and if it was them who would be paying for all this in future.
The tories have looked after thier core voters, we all know it. I mean they even kept the sodding garden centres open ffs.
Here's another thing: why did teachers and other front line workers not get vaccined before people in thier 60s who were retired and who were not compelled to go out to keep a roof over their head?
So, so unfair.

Because we're not tory voters!!

Nice comfy pensions????? some of them yes but not all and the ones with the comfy pensions are paying rather a lot of tax on them so YES thy are being 'touched' when it comes to paying for all this their taxes will go towards it, what cruises? I don't know anyone going on cruises and I know rather a lot of old(er) people. None of the young people in my family have lost their homes and jobs far from it my DS is a plumber and has worked all through lockdown, he won a contact to do the plumbing on a new estate due to be occupied soon, he actually took on 2 new plumbers (young plumbers at that) none of his team have been furloughed either, my DN got a job in a charity shop before lockdown and is back with a vengeance and has had her hours increased with a pay rise, the other DN works for the London Ambulance Service so her job is secure and my Nephew is in the RAF so again job security. Luckily the young in my family don't have the same resentment as you do about the elderly getting vaccinations, my DS had been harassing my 72 year old DH about his second jab until he got a date for it and he has already reminded me (3 flaming times) about my own second job in 2 weeks time.

BTW you do like to harp on about Tory Voters, I would suggest you look at both the Labour and Tory promises to pensioners in the run up to the 2017 election, Corbyn promised to keep the triple lock, not raise the pension age above 66 and give some form of restitution to the 50s women, while at the same time May wasn't even guaranteeing the triple lock let alone anything else, yet pensioners and soon to be pensioners didn't seem to have moved to Labour en masse did they? so I think its safe to assume if they did vote Tory it wasn't because they thought the Tories would look after them, because it was Labour who promised that. Oh BTW a lot of people in their 60s DO WORK, certainly the under 66s do as that's working age and so yes they are compelled to go out to work to keep a roof over their heads. BTW I went into my local garden centre during lockdown it was busy with young families, so not sure why you specifically mention them

Completely agree and it's not just about what they miss out on now, this will change the course of many of their lives - you can't get the time back. Life moves on, the summer after A levels that never was will never be again. It's the lack of understanding by so many that gets my goat.

@PomLikeTheBattle
I was asking you a question, not accusing you. I assumed you hadn't considered CEV children. I didnt think you wished them harm! I'm sorry if you misunderstood my post.

YANBU at all

It's really sad how much they have missed out on.

Now I'm not deminishing how awful the pandemic has been and the horrendous loss of life...but I do really feel for young people i.e. those doing A-levels & at university.

I was out most nights after final A-level exams, university freshers was just a blur of booze, partying & meeting so many new people

Trying to put myself in their shoes, I would have bloody hated having to stay in and never seeing my friends. Having said that, there is now social media/Facetime/Zoom etc so it's easier to stay 'more' in touch...however, not substitute for seeing your friends for real!

Their only kicks are peaceful demonstrations, which are then ruined by rioters

Gutting for them. I am glad for my DC sake that are going through this young, it must be total shit as a teen/young adult.

@TurquoiseDress

YANBU at all

It's really sad how much they have missed out on.

Now I'm not deminishing how awful the pandemic has been and the horrendous loss of life...but I do really feel for young people i.e. those doing A-levels & at university.

I was out most nights after final A-level exams, university freshers was just a blur of booze, partying & meeting so many new people

Trying to put myself in their shoes, I would have bloody hated having to stay in and never seeing my friends. Having said that, there is now social media/Facetime/Zoom etc so it's easier to stay 'more' in touch...however, not substitute for seeing your friends for real!

Er lots of people 30+ go out alot too. Maybe not everynight but still quite a lot.

Alot of people at all ages have missed out seeing friends too and have hated staying in too.

So what exactly is the difference then?

Totally agree, my heart breaks for them. Those were the most precious years of my life in so many ways and so important. Not long after, life becomes more serious with real jobs and more responsibilities. The kids have missed out on so much.
I’m in another country but getting tired now of taking my toddler out and seeing mainly older people only out, some walking far away from my Dd and looking at me as if I shouldn’t bring her out (we have to be fully masked in the streets here when people are around) then to take her to the parks and all play equipment still cordoned off, I’m running out off excuses for why she can’t go on it, it feels so shit telling her we can’t all the time, after she squeals with excitement when she sees them. I’m early 40’s, had a fantastic youth and life, now really looking back, I’d happily stay in to let the young now live theirs.

I feel really sad for my 22 year and 26 year old .

Its been awful for them my 26 year old has not been into her new jobs office for a year.
Mental health ..quite a number of suicides in the late teens early to mid twenties

@1dayatatime

There was a choice, sacrifice the futures of young people or the life expectancy of the over 80s.

The government with the backing of the majority of the population chose to sacrifice young people's futures.

Yep. A bit of honesty about the choice we all got behind wouldn't be a bad thing. There were no good options, there still aren't. Eventually we might just need to live with the risk of untimely death, as we always did until medical advances lulled us into a false sense of security for the last century.

@Thewinterofdiscontent - wow.
Well I am glad one teen is happy. They are the only one I know so far.

I have one doing GCSE, one doing A-levels. They are stressed, miserable and unmotivated. According to you, the fact that they are stressed is my (and my dh's I presume) fault. Every parent of teens I speak to is going through the same thing.

I hope that your child never has any mental health difficulties. If they do, do really, really remember the time you told strangers online that it is their fault if their children are suffering. Particularly in a time when there is a mental health crisis in adolescents.

I know a variety of teens from a variety of backgrounds struggling. I know their parents and they are good parents. They love their kids, they support them and they do the very best the can for them.

I'm gutted that my dd who is almost 18yrs has missed out on a year of stretching her wings, learning to drive, going to parties, drinking too much, making mistakes, snogging the wrong person and all the stupid things you do as a teen safe in the knowledge you will go home to a loving family afterwards. As it is, a whole load of hopelessly unstreetwise, inexperienced kids are going to be heading off into universities across the country.

One final thing for the exam taking years is the sheer unfairness of the way schools are handling exams. My dd and her friend are at different schools doing the same A-level. One has two years squeezed into two papers, the other has eight papers, one for each unit. One local school is doing assessments but will only use them if the student improves upon their predicted grade. One is giving student papers to work through in their own time. Some are doing open book exams, some aren't. It's absolutely ludicrous and I don't blame teens for feeling the impact of that and the futility of their efforts when others are going to get the same outcome with virtually none.

So OP, I agree, I do feel the teenagers/students/early twenties have had a tough time.

It absolutely is awful for young people. My husband works for the local uni here in student welfare. Students especially were totally mis sold about what uni life would be like in a pandemic. No face to face lessons. They have paid through the nose for accommodation where they cannot socialise outside their own flat. So many people assuming their whole building was their bubble! The unis specialism is events but obvs the events this year are rubbish because its all online. I really feel for the school leavers who have missed out.

DB has spent the vast majority of his time since September stuck in a tiny room for work, rest and play as he does his 1 year course on campus. He needed to be based on campus to access specialist equipment. He's been left scared to leave his room incase the 13 other people in the flat breech the rules and halls management stick another blanket warning on anyone around and risk losing their places on their courses. He doesn't get on with the flatmates. He hasn't had chance to meet other actual people.

Around his age, I'd met now DH. We were away weekends with other uni friends from a society. We went out a couple of times a week. Life was full and fun. A year or so later I was bedding down into my career and life got less care-free. Those years of finding independence and often yourself are quite fleeting before responsibility gets in the way.

Elderly relatives have shielded away in a comfortable house to themselves and contact with a support bubble. MIL is elderly enough that little has changed. I doubt she'll be living with the consequences in 10 years. I hear that she's aging rapidly as the occasional potter around a shop or garden centre or being taken for lunch out was good stimulation. Hopefully it will be legal and affordable to see her in the not-so-distant future.
DGM is struggling with NHS provision. She misses her meals out and theatre, but has taken a quieter life fairly well. Some friends, she'll never see again because of late cancer diagnoses, but on the whole DGM and MiL have seen the past year through reasonably comfortably and emotionally better than poor DB.

U25s have had a pretty crap time one way or another. It's over 10% of my 10yo's life now, but students have years to pay off the financial burden of a substandard course and trying to catch up with normal. They already have a tougher time than my generation did in getting established into adulthood.

Winterofdiscontent seems to have had an empathy bypass. I know many teens who are really suffering. Oh and they have sensible pragmatic parents too. But hey, it's not like we're living through a pandemic which has totally upended our normal way of living and being.