Covid leaves Youth with nothing to waste

42 November/December 2020

OPINION

OUTH IS about the only thin

worth havin, and that is about

the only thin youth has.

Unfortunately a global pandem

ic has challenged even this iron

law of cynicism and regret.

Nature gives youth a great deal, but ap

pears to be the only force on its side - this

generation are maturing in a society typiﬁed

by housing crises, limited job opportunities,

boundless inequalities and a planet that ap

pears to be wilting before our very eyes. As

such, anxiety among the young had hereto

fore become remarkably prevalent in Ireland,

the youngest country in Europe.

The last thing the these already precarious

By Zoë Jackson

McGrath

As Covid takes everything from the Young, Society and the Media

single them out for even rare breaches of the rules

Young people work disproportionately in retail, hospitality and tourism

- these sectors have been devastated by the fallout of the virus.

Unemployment among those aged 15-24 in Ireland, even pre-lockdown, is

estimated at 51 per cent compared to 26% in the population generally.

conditions and pessimistic outlook of this

generation needed was an all-encompassing

Act of God or Nature (or the last hoorah of

Twentieth-Century Man).

It appears the received wisdom on Covid-19

is often purveyed by those who seem to have

forgotten what it is to be young. Pope Fran

cis condemned the “cruel abandonment” of

the elderly in his third encyclical published

in early October. He is not wrong. The elderly

and those with underlying medical condi

tions - the most vulnerable among us – are

undeniably the most strongly aected by the

pandemic. InIrelandapproximately 90% per

cent of those who have died with Covid-19

are over 65, a demographic which has been

Covid leaves Youth

with nothing

to waste

being young in Galway

November/December 2020 43

subject to oppressive, if necessary, cocoon-

ing and which inevitably has been suering

commensurately from angst over possible

infection, and ennui around frittering away

scarce months in the absence of cherished

loved ones, who often tend to disproportion

ately illuminate the lives of those in old age.

Notwithstanding these truths, the wide

spread social and emotional impact of the

pandemic cannot be understated. The physi

ological risk is greatest for the elderly and

those with co-morbidities but the indirect

consequences endured by younger genera

tions have been inadequately addressed.

An EU-wide survey by Eurofound in April

2020 reported that almost a quarter of aged

18-23 in Ireland felt lonelyall or most of the

time over the two-week period before inter

view - the second highest rate in the 17 EU

countries for which data was available. Euro

found said that the“lowest levels of mental

well-being are reported among young people

and those looking for work”.

A recent report, ‘How’s Your Head?: Young

Voices During Covid-19’ found the Covid-19

crisis had negative eects on young people’s

health and wellbeing, especially amongst

some marginalised groups. The most com

mon negative eects related to the mental

health of respondents, including overthink

ing, concern, worry, anxiety, depression and

a sense of utter hopelessness.

In all 751 (35 per cent) of 2,173 people aged

between 15 and 24 said not being able to see

their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends, was

the most dicult consequence of the pan

demic and pursuant lockdown. They report

a distinct lack of “timely” and “clear” com

munication during such a transient and for-

mative period in their lives about “important

matters”, such as the Leaving Certiﬁcate and

college accommodation. One in 10 could not

name a single positive about their pandemic

experience. What eect can this have on the

innocence, eervescence and adventurous

ness of youth?

The youth have been deprived of rites-of-

passage and legitimate youthful expecta

tions due to Covid-19, left unable to engage

in the activities that should colour our forma

tive years.

Young people work disproportionately in

retail, hospitality and tourism - these sec

tors have been devastated by the fallout of

the virus. Unemployment among those aged

15-24 in Ireland is estimated at 51 per cent

compared to 26% in the population generally

- before the October ‘level 5’ lockdown.

Economic scarring results in young people

who leave school or college in recessions be

ing doomed to occupy a lower wage bracket

for the entire duration of their careers com

pared with those who graduate in more eco-

nomically favourable times. According to Irish

Times economist, David McWilliams: “When

American baby boomers (born 1946-1964) hit

a median age of 35 in 1990, they collectively

owned 21 per cent of the wealth. By contrast,

my generation, the Gen Xers (born 1965-1980)

who collectively turned 35 in 2008, owned

just 9 per cent of American national wealth.

The Millennials (born 1981-1996), are on av

erage 31 now. They only own 3 per cent of

America’s wealth. It’s hard to see them ever

catching up under present policies”. Over

four in ten younger adults in the CSO’sSocial

Impact of Covid-19 Survey reported that the

pandemic had anegativefinancial impact on

them, compared to two in ten of respondents

aged 70 and over.

Leaving Cert 2020 has been an infamous

debacle: students were robbed of experi

ences previously taken for granted, tirelessly

rehearsed plays were never staged, hours of

training and tactics for sports ﬁnals went to

waste and the concept of a graduation cer

emony to celebrate and even say goodbye to

their friends was unthinkable. They then had

to endure the distorted calculation of grades,

compounded by fundamental data errors and

revisions: a disgraceful experience for these

individuals to be forced to undergo at a stage

in life where pressure has always been noto

riously heaped on them. For those who then

made it to college the would-be ‘college ex

perience’ has been utterly diminished by the

virtualisation of lectures, reducing education

to academia, which should be merely one

facet of this varied, enriching time.

Playing or watching live sports have been

almost eliminated. Night-life is entirely gone

with no promise of a future for an unprece

dented amount of time. Forming new friend-

ships and relationships is almost impossible,

and temporary emigration has become im

practicable. This demographic have endured

“by far the biggest wellbeing hit of anybody

who hasn’t directly suered from the dis

ease”, conﬁrms the ESRI’s Behavioural Re-

search Unit. When

America’s Centre for

Disease Control and

Prevention carried

out a survey this sum

mer, it found that one

in ten of the 5,400

respondents had se

riously considered

suicide in the previ

ous month - about

twice as many who

had thought of taking

their lives in 2018. For

young adults, aged 18

to 24, the proportion

was a stunning one in

four.

Against this brutal

background the vast majority of young people

are respecting the Covid-19 guidelines and

restrictions. The Chief Medical Ocer noted

recently that for the most part, young people

in Ireland were making “very signiﬁcant sac

riﬁces” for the greater good. Of course these

sacriﬁces are not made for self-preservation

as Covid-19 poses only inﬁnitesimal risks to

their lives.

There does, however, appear to be a small

sector of outliers.

Although the outliers come from a variety

of demographics and backgrounds, the so

cial tendencies of younger people, particular-

ly the holding of parties and animated drink-

stoked gatherings, allow for ﬁnger-pointing.

It is not surprising, objectively, that those

who should be basking in juvenile joie de

vivre have recoiled most from the systemic

curtailment of fun. Seventy-three per cent of

Covid cases in late September were among

those aged under 45.

The zenith of perceived Millennial hedo

nism was the now-infamous brunch event

hosted in Berlin D2 in August. It can, in some

ways, be compared with the staid, middle-

Some bitterness about the

Berlin 2 brunch originated

in the fact that those at the

event were having the time

of their lives. The event was

outlandish, alluring, and

many were simply envious.

Berlin 2: Most people felt they were missing out somehow

44 November/December 2020

aged establishment Oireachtas golf outing.

Both attracted signiﬁcant media coverage

and widespread condemnation, which was

undoubtedly exacerbated in the case of the

brunch by the circulation of a video suggest

ing the breaches were brazen and showcas-

ing the photogenic and gyrating charisma of

the barman who louchely dispensed spirits

from a height. In contrast, the attendees of

the golf-dinner avoided pictorial representa

tion and as such, further damaging evidence

against them.

The rush to condemn the brunch failed

to bother to assess whether the lapse was

short-lived, as attendees vouched for, and

there was vituperative schadenfreude for the

inﬂuencer who hosted the event. The primary

cause of public outcry stemmed from percep

tions and expectations of the common good

and propriety. However, some bitterness

must also have found its roots in the fact that

those at the event seemed to be having the

time of their lives. The event was outland

ish, alluring, and there is no doubt that many

were simply envious.

It is in a way surprising that the Berlin D2

event attracted the same ﬂash of opprobrium

as ‘Golfgate’, which admittedly has lasted

longer due to the prolonged investigative

process surrounding the recalcitrant Su

preme Court judge. Although the under-dis-

tanced Oireachtas Golf Society diners were

not captured enjoying the event in the same

way as the brunch-goers, the status of those

involved as mainly hypocritical public ﬁgures

who are instrumental or adjacent to the im

position and enforcement of the guidelines

which they breach – should have meant it at

tracted much greater anger than the apoliti-

cal brunch. Many young people wonder why

it did not.

People are lonely, frustrated, restricted

and deprived of freedoms they spent the du

ration of their lives taking for granted until re-

cently. We long for a semblance of normality,

and the only means to realistically achieve

this is through a level of disregard for the

rules imposed on us. This admittedly selﬁsh

behaviour is inherently human. The reward

appears to outweigh the risk, and where the

breaches are relatively minor, these individu

als can justify their actions with the presump-

tion that no genuine harm was done. Granted

there is a small risk of a great harm – again

most probably to the most vulnerable. View

ing the growing willingness to disregard the

measures through a sympathetic lens would

yield some understanding of relatively inno

cent intentions. All anyone wants in these

dysfunctional times are brief emulations of

life before the pandemic.

Who can blame the NUIG students who col

lected outside at the Spanish Arch the ﬁrst

week of their new term? Where were they

supposed to channel their energies as they

entered a new world, one that has only ever

been touted to them as socialised?

To avoid the few, but oft-spotlighted, in

cidents of youthful delinquency like NUIG,

Oliver Bond, Grafton St pre level 5, and Berlin

D2, society would be much better appealing

to our sense of responsibility than condemn

ing us and ﬁnger-pointing. To be viliﬁed in the

press and by public ocials serves only to

breed frustration among young people. When

asked about their personal concerns, respon

dents aged 18-34 years were more likely to

beVery or Extremelyconcerned about some

one else’s health (70.5%), compared with

those aged 70 and over (56%).

According to the aforementioned report on

mental health, young people feel “underval

ued”, “unfairly scapegoated” and feel the

sacriﬁces they have made during the pan

It is not surprising, objectively, that those who

should be basking in juvenile joie de vivre have

recoiled most from the systemic curtailment of fun.

Golfgate: staid oldsters

demic are not taken seriously.

We appear to have caught the dropping

knife in a global pandemic blame game, but

the spotlighting is unfair. Youthful indiscre

tion is and always has been famously more

likely to be colourful and loud than the ex

cesses of later life. Who would hold that

against us?

They say youth is wasted on the young. Co

vid-19 isn’t even allowing us to waste it.