Staying connected safely in a social distancing society

By: Maria Maraldo, Sophia Fowler and Paige Evers

Since the novel Coronavirus struck the United States, the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) has been recommending social distancing to every American. Students at Grosse Pointe South have been feeling the effects, both positive and negative.

While some may find this time rejuvenating and even relaxing, counselors and psychologists are warning students and parents about social isolation, a real and relevant issue. According to counselor Nick Bernbeck, social isolation can have many negative effects on students.

“Social isolation can lead to feelings of loneliness, depression, increased stress, can alter one's sleep patterns and impact their ability to focus,” Bernbeck said. “For students who already feel alone and isolated, it can exacerbate those feelings.”

Psychology teacher Katherine Parent agrees, stating that isolation has a negative impact on many students, especially during this time.

“We were all thrown into this new lifestyle with practically no warning or time to mentally prepare,” Parent said. “That can make people feel as though they don't have control over their lives, which is something no human ever wants to feel.”

Katherine Stacey ’20 believes social distancing has some positives and negatives. She enjoys the flexibility with school, but not being around many people has taken a toll on her mental health.

“I’ve become super lazy and bored,” Stacey said. “I think I’ve become a little short tempered because I don’t get to go out and have fun anymore. I don’t get to release my energy being cooped up in my house all day.”

Tory Roth ’22 said that during this time, her family has been able to have more family time and family dinners.

“At least for me, things were going crazy and everything was busy; hockey was crazy, school was crazy,” Roth said. “I had so much going on and now literally everything has stopped. I have a lot more free time and I've been spending more time with my family.”

While following the rules of social distancing, Stacey and many others feel helpless when it comes to their friends.

“I’m more on edge about not being able to do anything, like worrying about how my friends are,” Stacey said. “I still Snapchat them and stuff, but seeing how they are in person is a lot different.”

According to Bernbeck, students should follow CDC guidelines on how to limit the spread of COVID-19 if they aren’t sure how to go about interacting with friends or those they love.

Human beings are social creatures, and interaction amongst each other is important,” Bernbeck said. “It is important for students to gain social interaction in as safe a way as possible during this global pandemic.”

Parent said that she hopes students will realize the crucial role that their loved ones and their school play in everyone's lives.

“Going from the highly structured school day to the completely unstructured time at home can be hard and get in the way of productivity,” Parent said. “Try keeping to a routine for the sake of normalcy. Also, utilize apps like FaceTime and Zoom so that you are still spending quality time with people, despite not being physically with them.”

According to Roth, her mom put together a schedule for their family so they can have some sort of structure.

“We wake up, and my whole family takes my dog to the dog park and nobody's ever there,” Roth said. “Then we come home to do school work, we eat lunch, we do more school work or creative time. Later in the evening, our neighbors come over. My dad used to be an athletic trainer, so he puts together workouts for us to do so we can get some sort of exercise in. Then we'll usually go over their house and play basketball or something, but that's really the only social interaction I have.”

School Psychologist Lisa Khoury agrees with Parent in the aspect of keeping a routine and having things to look forward too.

“The biggest thing is to keep a positive attitude and keep busy,” Khoury said. “I recommend establishing a daily routine that includes connecting electronically with others, doing schoolwork, enjoying family, exercise, doing fun things and maintaining a healthy diet.”

According to Roth, she is taking her extra time to explore new things like baking, or getting into certain healthy habits.

“Well there's a lot of stuff that I've been trying to do for myself,” Roth said. “Personally, I've been trying to get into a routine of working out every day.”

Khoury said that she hasn’t spoken to any students directly, but believes there are some who are worried when it comes to certain events.

“I imagine that many are concerned, especially seniors, about how the school closures will affect the end of the year activities like graduation and prom,” Khoury said.

Being a senior, Stacey said that she had been upset by seeing other students joking about having graduation and prom held online.

“I was really looking forward to prom and graduation, all four years,” Stacey said. “I always thought, ‘I’m going to go to prom’ and ‘I’m going to graduate.’ Now there is a possibility that it won’t happen.”

Roth believes that schools, sports and restaurants shutting down is a necessary step to minimize spread even though it's inconvenient and can bring anxiety.

“Everyone could be asymptomatic and not even know that they have the coronavirus,” Roth said. “Someone at school could have it and if we kept going, the entire school could get sick because it’s so contagious. If things kept going on like normal, I could have gotten it. Then I would’ve gone to my playoff tournament, and I just infected my whole team. It's necessary to stay away from people just so we can contain it; once it's contained, things can go back to normal.”

According to Khoury, limiting one’s exposure to the mainstream media can help with reducing anxiety.

Constant connection to concerning information can make your own anxiety creep up,” Khoury said. “If there is no break from that information, your anxiety level will continue to rise. That is not healthy.”

Bernbeck said students can take certain measures through the internet (like utilizing video chats) and try to not get too caught in the news surrounding the pandemic in order to prevent negative aspects of social distancing.

“Interact with your family and friends in whatever ways that you can while remaining safe and healthy,” Bernbeck said. “Do not hesitate to reach out to your school counselor (we have set-up office hours for chat and video conferences, the hours can be found on the South homepage). Talk to your parents or a trusted adult if you start to feel stressed or lonely.”

Khoury said everyone needs to take part in social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“Everyone needs to listen to the officials,” Khoury said. “This is really not a joke, we need to do our part but we do not need to panic.”

Opinion: Six feet apart to what point

By: Elizabeth Klepp

A few days ago, I saw a post on the Grosse Pointe Park Community Facebook page from a parent complaining about seeing a group of three teenagers walking outside together. This particular parent emphasized social distancing should be taken seriously, and it is unfair to humanitarians and hospitals to have people wandering about.

While I completely agree with the sentiment behind this post, how seriously should we take social distancing? And, is a group of three teens going for a walk really the problem?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines social distancing as a set of infection control actions intended to slow the spread of a contagious disease, in this case COVID-19.

Avoiding public interactions is crucial, according to the CDC, unless public trips are essential. If one wants to hang out with a friend, it should preferably be done via technology, but if for some reason unavoidable, friends should remain six feet apart at all times.

Now, I’ll be frank. Most of my peers, including me, don’t really take this seriously. We’ve gone on jogs, walks and gotten take-out together.

Is that a bad thing? Yes. Is that surprising? No.

See, Generation-Z has grown up with an information overload. Almost nothing is unknowable, and we hear and see everything. Every problem, every conflict, every panic. We’ve become desensitized.

So when a big problem, like the spread of a deadly virus, takes place, it doesn’t shock us. It almost doesn’t feel like that big of a deal at all.

I still see teens partying and hanging out, because to us this isn’t an issue. We know we don’t have the coronavirus, so staying cooped up all day seems unnecessary, but it truly isn’t.

The facts show that social distancing works. In 1918 during the spread of the Spanish Flu, and during the flu pandemic of 2009, social distancing saved thousands of lives according to studies don't by Georgia State University.

Now, avoiding the public doesn’t mean avoiding the outdoors. You can go for walks, jogs, runs or bike rides as long as you avoid close contact with others.

But still, I appeal to my generation, take this seriously. Take this very seriously. Listen to the mom on Facebook who panics about teenagers hanging out. She is right. Whether you think you have any impact on the problem or not, you do.