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Post-Pandemic Socialization Issues and How to Cope with Them

By: Jeff Nazzaro

As the omicron variant of COVID-19 surges across the United States and the globe, battering a weary world of vaccinated and unvaccinated people alike, while in its relatively mild incarnation also offering a glimpse of light at the end of a long pandemic tunnel, school administrators and educators and beginning to take stock of the social effects the whole ignominious chapter has had on our children. Actual results as to if the kids are alright have so far varied, and the bigger question remains: Will they be alright? In other words, what will post-pandemic socialization look like and how long will it take to for things to return to normal.

“The time spent online in isolation left many children less inhibited…leading to more hurt feelings and heightened altercations..."

With a physical return to the classroom after months of online education, many school districts have seen a pronounced uptick in fighting, both physical and verbal. The time spent online in isolation seems to have left many children less inhibited with what they now are willing to say to others face-to-face, leading to more hurt feelings and heightened altercations than seen pre-pandemic. Physically, others seem to not know their own strength, or to be aware of the pain thresholds of their peers, perhaps the result of not being on the playground with others their own size for an extended period of time.

Either way, the result has often been the same: bruised bodies and egos and more arguments and physical fights. Individually, students have been acting out more, as well, with schools seeing increased disruptive behavior like vandalism and in-class temper tantrums ending in students bolting from the room. More instances of silent suffering or a reluctance to engage with or participate in school have been on display too, with some students just tuning everything out and others even standing outside the school, frozen, unable to enter for one more day.

“Even when students have returned to in-person education, there have been mask mandates, and different rules and routines…”

Experts in child psychology and elementary education point to several factors that may be negatively influencing student behavior. Most obvious and prominent among these is the disruption to norms of learning, schedules, routines, and social lives that have affected everyone. Even when students have returned to in-person education, there have been mask mandates, and different rules and routines for recess, lunch, and other normally consistent areas of their schooling.

Meanwhile, the unending worry about getting sick or infecting vulnerable loved ones at home takes a toll, too, and can lead to students who are oversensitive and on edge, increasingly liable to snap over what once were minor, even every day, hallway, and schoolyard transgressions.

On top of all of this, schools are increasingly faced with staff shortages and outright exhaustion from those who have been there day in and day out dealing with drastic changes. Fewer well-rested staff members, particularly in the crucial area of counseling, means less attention to students who may not be coping well with the pandemic and the upset to routine it has caused, more stringent application of rules, and harsher punishments for breaking them.

“…schools are increasingly faced with staff shortages and outright exhaustion from those who have been there day in and day out dealing with drastic changes.”

School administrators, teachers, and counselors have been left wondering in many cases if students have forgotten how to socialize after being out of the physical school environment for so long and spending so much additional time in an online setting. To counteract this troubling trend, experts say parents should prioritize daily one-on-one time with their children, making an extra effort to connect with teenagers, who under the best of circumstances, can be difficult to reach by parents, and who may not be getting the same degree of peer-to-peer socialization that is so important to their age group.

When speaking with their children, parents should emphasize the transitory nature of the pandemic. Though it may seem like it has already been going on forever and that there is no end in sight, assure them that sooner or later, things will return to normal. In the meantime, in the face of the present surge, look for ways to engage socially via Zoom or masked and socially distanced. Many people have noted the previous lockdown as a time when far-flung family members finally reconnected, so there certainly can be a silver lining in a social existence forced back online for a few more weeks.

“Though it may seem like it has already been going on forever and that there is no end in sight, assure them that sooner or later, things will return to normal.”

Continuing to socialize online can be important for friendships among young people, as well. Many parents have reported that previously best friends sometimes have trouble talking or doing much of anything together when they’ve resumed in-person socialization. To help ensure a transition back to normalcy, parents should prioritize playdates and other in-person social activities as much as possible.

At the same time, experts say, they should not expect the transition to be effortless and smooth, but, as building friendships is a process, so will rekindling them in a post-pandemic world.