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.

onplanetjanet yes, everything you've written.

I think it has been really hard on younger people. My eldest turned 18 during lockdown, is struggling with college online and is now on antidepressants 😔 She feels pretty hopeless at the moment. Fourteen year old is finding it hard too. I want them to be out making friends, forming relationships and enjoying life, not living through a screen stuck in with the parents.

@Skinnytailedsquirrel

I get so pissed off with this "poor young people" thing. A large majority of them haven't given a shit about this pandemic. Don't wear masks, don't socially distance etc etc etc. They feel invincible. You lot spouting forth "poor young people" have encouraged them to behave like they are.

Lots of them (not all) are behaving like they always did. The ones to feel sorry for are those elderly ones who have been so afraid of going outside their front door incase they come across some of those "poor young people"

You think all elderly people have been following all rules and been too scared to leave the house? How naive of 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.

Maybe If they are lucky If life goes back to normal

Totally agree. It's been so unfair on young people who would most likely make a full recovery even if they caught the virus. Whereas the elderly don't want to go out to nightclubs (well, most of them) and are generally happier with the lockdown situation - stay at home, just go out for a walk once a day, go to the shops, etc. People are living and working longer which is squeezing the younger generation as they can't get on the housing ladder, get jobs, and will now be lumbered with paying off the furlough money for years to come. Give them a break. Incidentally, has anyone else seen the ONS figures showing that deaths in 2020 were really not that much higher than usual.

I’m 23 now and I was pregnant with my son at 20 (birthed at 21 straight after graduation). It’s shit. For those who expected more out of their 20s and for those who needed a bit more out of life at this age with a baby with family support.

I have friends the same age who’s careers has been put on hold, to being in parent groups where we’re all loosing our shit (mostly me and parent friends who are in their 30s). I’m just trying to forge my career during this time. I think it’s actually harder for young adults living at home who depend on their social life. Although, they don’t have to deal with the complex nature that comes with children, live-in partners, the home, etc,.

Actually, I conclude, it’s shit for everyone.

[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]
Brazil? Really?? I'll just leave this here for you...

U.K. last 7 days 2.21 deaths per million
Brazil last 7 days 79.25 deaths per million

My DH is 80. He had probably 5 more years, if lucky, of active sports. He lost a whole year of that and so did all his similarly aged friends. That's a big chunk lost of the (short) rest of their lives.

Young people have the whole of the rest of their lives waiting for them. They've had ONE year out. Come on! They can and will get over this. They probably won't even remember it much. At 64, I don't even remember much of the years I spent being 17/18/19/20, still less those preceding it.

I feel sorriest for the 30-somethings who want and need to find a partner pretty soon if they want a family/children. One year out of being able to date is pretty huge for them.

Yes, very shit for young people.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/16/spreading-faster-hitting-harder-why-young-brazilians-are-dying-of-covid

There are millions of vulnerable younger people.

You didn't want to protect CEV children?

That's funny, my dead daughter was CEV as a child before all this and no one seemed to give a fuck. That was my lookout. Now it's all a big guilt trip. That's no longer working.

She left behind two younger siblings. And their lives are now shit.

I think it’s been devastating for children and young people for many reasons:

0-2 - parents lacking support, questionable access to health visiting services.

2-5- toddlers lacking social interaction during formative years, parents lacking support, potentially dangerous situations while parents working

Primary age- missing play, home schooling, educational deficit

Secondary- home schooling, exam years desperately affected. Restricted independence at a time they should be experiencing more freedom.

Uni students - missing out hugely on university experience which is often a finite period of life, not getting face to face teaching, stuck at home when should be independent etc, lack of job opportunities, graduate market likely to be more competitive.

All of these stages are incredibly important for life chances and development and can’t easily be undone or re-done. For some children and young people the impacts over the last year will affect them for decades.

This time next year it’ll all be over bar the shouting and the “young” can resume binge drinking , puking and pissing in the town centre and my colleagues in A&E will have the pleasure of treating punch ups and kids senseless on more than just booze.

I think we aren’t giving young people enough credit or support for their resilience, their almost overwhelming ability to get on with many aspects of the pandemic such as wearing masks. We could learn a lot from them. I’m very proud of our young!

It really is very mixed, the experiences in the last year. Some of the more positive aspects seem to be squashed which is a shame. That doesn’t mean that negative parts are ignored, but they seem to have been blown up in the media hugely as if every young person has suffered a huge trauma.

As usual, most of the trauma is experienced by the worst off in our society, which are the poor, the vulnerable. They suffered far more than any other group, in illness, job loss, economics. Those in domestic violence situations.

The children in my extended family have had an overall OK time. The teenagers told me that it was nice to have the pressure off for a change. To just hang out with one or two mates and chat in the garden, or online, instead of the pressure to be seen and not miss out on larger groups - where inevitably there is more competition and jostling. My own older teen said that it was the first time she’d relaxed about her appearance, her grades and her anxiety disappeared for a while. She had to do Uni online - but finds it fine as she said she’s got two more years to have the whole Uni experience.

So yes, it’s been problematic for many, not denying that, including me (try having a severely disabled child at home/explaining change!). But the blanket generalizations that it is devastating for all young - this isn’t a true picture and ignores the resilience that many young have shown and I’m so proud of.

Ssd hear you and agree. I do hope with things opening up it may get a bit better for the young people. I feel sorry for everyone as the Pandemic has affected everyone in different ways, but I do think it's sad young people missing out on an active social life.

Its been a year. Only a year.

A year with "online" available.

Honestly, the way some people are talking you'd think that there was a war on, with no entertainment, not enough food, bombs dropping and all the 18 year olds being conscripted, which has never happene......oh wait.

Its shit, no one is saying that it isnt. But lets hail a cab to Real Street. One. Year. out of what will be for the vast majority a long life. It could be a HELL of a lot worse. Not just now but for always.

All anyone can do is live the life they have, and just because you sptn your youth getting pissed and going to clubs doesnt mean that your kids want to do the same. In fact, as the mother of grown ups, they seem to want to do the opposite!

A whole generation survived the worst that humanity can do to each other, I am sure that young people can survive a year without clubbing. I have faith in them.

@Loveistheonlyway One of mine has really retreated into himself, all he wanted to do before Christmas was to see his friends and now I can't get him out, it's so sad and very worrying

Ah that is indeed worrying. Do you think this is something deeper or something he can now get through. Sending

It's not just a year though. It'll be decades of austerity, a recession, reduced job prospects for years and who knows what else. 75% of the jobs lost were jobs done by under 25Yos. All this mostly to protect other people.

And still older people will carp on about young people breaking the rules. We're incredibly lucky they've been so compliant.

Also, we've had a problem with ageism. The response to the pandemic is really going to harden younger people's attitudes towards older people if you ask me.

I completely agree with you ssd.

My ds is 17, at his age I was out nearly every night, usually at Youth Club & then a sneaky drink in the pub before going home, or in the park with mates & some cider. He should be having the time of his life, but instead he is at home in his room on his Xbox. He missed all the school leaving stuff as he was in isolation with suspected Covid last year so didn't get his shirt signed & wasn't on the photos with the other kids. He is doing his A levels now, had a fairly normal first term but then spent nearly 3 months sat in a room on his own doing his lessons online. His year haven't been able to take part in the privileges that sixth formers get such as being able to leave school at lunchtime or free periods to go to the shop or cafes, if they leave the school ground they aren't allowed back.

Indeed, PyongyangKipperbang. The hyperbole here is impressive. It certainly hasn't been great for young people, but I don't recall it being great for anyone, really - particularly those that the virus targets and the people that care for them. The past year has been rather shit for them, I think.

My DS lost his sponsored degree apprenticeship as the company value tanked and they couldn’t afford it anymore. He was walking in to a 20k salary plus his degree paid for. He is now waiting for the next training possibility but that avenue is also closed currently. He has recently got a job working for a freight company. I am relieved because he just wants something to do. He decorated some rooms, built a patio and did a lot of gardening last year. His GF is doing well at uni and as taking a medical sciences degree she has had face to face teaching.

Both DS and his GF have remained quite positive in spite of things. I almost died six years ago when he was 12 and it sort of put everything in to perspective for us as a family.

And still older people will carp on about young people breaking the rules. We're incredibly lucky they've been so compliant.

Also, we've had a problem with ageism. The response to the pandemic is really going to harden younger people's attitudes towards older people if you ask me.

Mibbelucie So how is your post helping with the ageism, then?

@TheClaws

Indeed, PyongyangKipperbang. The hyperbole here is impressive. It certainly hasn't been great for young people, but I don't recall it being great for anyone, really - particularly those that the virus targets and the people that care for them. The past year has been rather shit for them, I think.

Agreed!

There is also a strange underlying myth to the hyperbole - that ‘the young’ should not have sacrificed for ‘the old’ (and that the old don’t even deserve it) - which I find a bit chilling.

@Rejoiningperson

Well there you are into the General and the Specific.

General

"Should young peoples social and educational lives be sacrificed for the old?"

NO!!!!

Specific

"Are you ok with locking down you and your kids as long as your parents dont contract a virus which could kill them?"

YES!!!!!

Its "other people" syndrome.

I entered a relationship when I was 17 which was abusive and drained me for five years paid for everything etc, went to uni at 18 he moved with but I paid for everything so had to work and use student loan to fund. I am now finally free after leaving him when I went to uni at the end of last lockdown but yeah haven't been out since I was 19, still not free really, can't meet new people where I am, been in and out of suicidal tendancies

I also work for the NHS in covid support , so have been extra safe, it's been the worst period of my life, when even Samaritans are turning you away and it's up to you to save your own life it is difficult.