Online Students Share Their Experience Dealing with Loneliness

Credit to Andrew Poertner and Sophie Stachula

By Patricia Fechter
Published: April 1, 2021

Increased stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness are just some of the things many virtual students struggle with. As a result, many struggle doing online classes.

“I’ve had some students reach out but it is mostly parents who are worried about their child, but I’m worried about the students who haven’t reached out, but need help,” guidance counselor Lorraine Smith said.

Kids attending virtual classes may be struggling with their mental health and feeling unmotivated to engage in their classes. A lot of online students struggle with the same issues and reaching out to the counselors or your parents or just talking to someone in general can help your mental health.

“Getting outside, exercise or finding things to look forward to are just a few small things that could help you,” Smith said.

While many students have struggled, for some, virtual classes have allowed them to thrive and as a result they have gotten better grades.

“For me personally, online school has been easier for me to learn because it goes at a slower pace than in- person schooling,” junior Evan Becker said.

While there have been some benefits to online school for Becker, it hasn’t all been great.

“Online school has helped my grades but definitely a decline in the social aspect of it,” Becker said.

For many students, they are not in the same place with their social health. Normally, kids would be surrounded by their peers but with virtual classes this is not the case. Additionally, many students cannot see their friends on a daily or weekly basis outside of school because some people in their family may be more compromised to COVID-19. Some of the ways students have communicated with each other was by setting up Zoom meetings with their friends, playing video games with them or just by texting or FaceTiming if they could not see them in person. In-person school is still not completely normal with masks and distancing, but people still get to see their friends and classmates in a normal classroom setting.

While many virtual students miss so many aspects of in-person school, they just didn’t feel it was the right time to be at FHN this semester.

“As much as I would want to go back and get a normal high school experience, I would stay virtual at least until the cases decrease more,” freshman Maahin Fatima said.