Every day, starting with that 11th of March 2020 - the day that violently changed our lives - the focus is constantly on the course of the pandemic, the eternal criticality of the next two weeks and the huge financial implications of the «smart», in infinite quotes measures that the government is engaged in as it seems to have nothing more effective in its quiver except perhaps the self test that will put it back on individual responsibility in view of tourist arrivals.
I pass all this by in passing, because the purpose of this article is not to criticize the known condition, but to put into the field of discussion another emerging pandemic, that of the psychological collapse and pressure, especially of the youth and productive ages.
Ο P.O.Y. a few weeks ago issued an alert on the psychological impact of the pandemic. So based on the data from στρές and depression the productive ages are directly at risk, while the 20% of nursing staff suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder stress. Also according to the foundation The Prince's Trust in cooperation with the research, market and analysis company YouthGov over the 50% of young people 16 - 25 constantly feel anxiety - a 12-year record rate. Other studies with similar findings were subsequently published.
Young people both in the summer and later became the scapegoat of the government for their irresponsibility and the spread of the coronavirus. Does someone always have to be blamed to cover up the inadequacies of those in charge?;
But think about the weight on the shoulders of a 17 year old who can't live through his two most enjoyable but stressful school years, those B and C high school years naturally. For these kids, there will be no five days, no tutorials with breaks and well-chatting, no that smooth transition to first adulthood, no souvenir photos in class with smiles, all the magic of school reality that you realize a few years later.
Then think of a 21-year-old whose student life begins and ends on a laptop, away from the University and the lecture halls, what they now want to fill with police and repression, away from the school canteen, the parties of early youth, the erasmus, the trips, the student house - the bastion of his independence.
Think of a 25-year-old who has finished school, is in his master's degree or has entered the productive process, has begun tentatively to realize his dreams and suddenly finds himself crammed into a subway with masks on and his head bowed, home-work-home. Last month they put him on probation, now it's home, his parents' home; not enough 534 euros for the rent and living in his own. He tries to grow up on his Computer,finally he reminisces his life in photos,he preens daily with his mask. He comes home before curfew lest a fine fall and monologues that at 18 he was faced with the financial crisis and that at 25 he has to face another vise again that no one knows where it will take us. When are we going to work normally again? When will we go back to our schools? When will we clink glasses with our friends again? What will our financial situation be like next? Will we be allowed to live or just breathe?;
Many people ask how it is possible that “when people die” you think about when you will go to the bars again. No, we're not stoic, indifferent, party animals. but man was not born only to work and consumeι. We do not want and fear that our generation will confirm Orwell. No one is talking about it, our needs and our lives have been sacrificed in the containment (?) of the pandemic with measures that are absurd, with measures that are akin to the torture of the drop, with accordion measures of non-scientific intervention that cause more irritation, misunderstanding and harm than mitigation of the scourge of our time which has cost the lives of over 8000 people in Greece.
Prolonged loneliness has the same brain effects as hunger, it is also a reason why people are addicted to food, while lockdowns lead to feelings of deep melancholy, bursts of anger, panic and anxiety attacks and a prolonged sense of insecurity about the future.
It is certain that in the post-pandemic era, whenever it comes, in addition to the looming huge economic crisis, we will have to deal with fragile psychologies of the people who are the protagonists of the era, the young people who see their dreams confined to four walls and ruled courtyards. Believe me, we are all concerned and anxious about the lives of our loved ones, and we are all concerned and anxious about the lives of our children.But we also worry about our young people who are waiting every day.
No one is opposed to measures that will actually have an effect, that will protect our health and allow us to breathe air more freely without fear. But the path being followed with piecemeal measures, with little scientific intervention - vaccines are arriving by the drop while they have clearly become a subject of political controversy and a field of East-West competition and domination - favour conspiratorial voices more than anything else and intensify our fatigue.
A fatigue that in the end will be expressed as complete resignation, or gaining or uncontrolled explosion, None of the above is a solution to take back our lives but let everyone take responsibility because the youth will not always be the target and the culprit when no one examines their needs and the only permanent solution promoted is the restriction on anything that does not involve work or consumption.
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