Scout Wallen
In times of unparalleled change, young people are looking to each other for signs of hope and stability.
In Australia, Gen Z, for the first time in their lives, are feeling the direct implications of a worldwide health and economic crisis.
As universities close across Australia and move online, many young people are heading back to their family homes.
Moving home at 20?
Eva is a 20-year-old University of Melbourne student.
‘When all of this started, I don’t think we thought it would be as serious as it is,’ Eva said.
‘I had to decide whether or not to move back to the Northern Rivers to live with my parents, or wait it out in Melbourne with the new life and family I had made for myself.’
In the end, Eva decided to come home to be with her parents and brother, which means that she is completing the final year of her undergraduate degree online.
‘This was the year that I was supposed to be meeting with honours supervisors, networking and connecting with people,’ she said.
‘Online university is costing me the same amount, even though it is being delivered to a significantly lower quality of learning and education. I am not happy about it.’
Real support needed
Eva works at an art centre in Melbourne that is government run, meaning she lost her job even before social distancing measures were put into place.
‘It is all well and good for the government to say they are going to help us out, but to actually not pull through and make sure that the help is accessible and legitimate is really tough,’ she said, in relation to the issues Australians are having with accessing Centrelink and support payments.
Job loss is particularly significant for the younger generations as they hold the majority of casual positions in the workforce. Casual employees make up 76 per cent of workers aged 15–19 years old, and 41 per cent of workers 20–24 years old.
In saying this, all generations are feeling the uncertainty that continues to surround us. For some, it feels like it is swallowing us whole.
Greer Andersson, a 19-year-old Sunshine Coast resident, is struggling with the isolation.
Removing choice
‘I never had a problem staying at home when I had the choice to, but now I am struggling with the fact that I won’t be able to see my friends, or my grandfather, because me visiting him could potentially kill him,’ said Greer.
‘I’m really freaking out, and I don’t think I will cope well being cooped up.’
We are at an age where the adults in our lives are telling us to go out and explore. To take advantage of the world and the experiences we are yet to unpack.
Future questions
Yet this situation limits our access to the futures we want to create.
Kallum Robinson, a 20-year-old University of Queensland student, who grew up in Lismore, had his university exchange in Berlin cut short.
‘Some of my friends started to go home to their respective European countries, and as it progressed into March, my opportunity to work evaporated as Berlin began to shut down’.
Kallum made the decision to come back to Australia once flights became more expensive, and airlines began to suspend operations.
‘One week I was going to parties in Berlin, and the very next week I found myself sitting in my family home doing absolutely nothing.’
Although it is easier to wallow in the negative consequences of COVID-19 isolation measures, there are some positives. A lot of us are taking these moments of physical distancing to unwind and re-attach ourselves to the things we enjoy doing at home and the people we love.
‘Slowing down has been really important,’ said Eva, who has been able to start playing music again, writing, exercising and spending time with her family.
‘I am getting to be with my family at a time in my life where I never thought I would be back home.’
We also have to thank social media for keeping us all connected.
‘I have been video-chatting a lot, and checking in with lots of people,’ said Eva.
And of course, these experiences are not universal amongst everyone our age. Some people are thriving with introverted glee. Others are unsafe in their homes, as social distancing can mean something very different for those in unsafe households. And others continue to go out and live their lives like normal.
To anyone who is young and feeling the instability of this, give your mind some COVID-19 free time by all means, but I urge you to listen to the medical facts. And remember, the pub will be there when this all eases up again.
