To know how does online school affect students mental health…read on this article…!
An online school is an educational institution that makes primary use of the internet to reach its students. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the online school was mainly an easy way for students to acquire a degree from the comfort of their homes. However, a considerable number of institutions joined the online trend during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of students embraced this change, but for others, it had the opposite reaction, especially to their mental health. Therefore, how does online school affect students’ mental health?
How Does Online School Affect Students Mental Health?
Online school can affect students’ mental health through virtual fatigue, lack of social interaction, increased anxiety, and lack of interest. Let’s take a thorough look into the effects of online school on the mental health of students.
Online School affect Mental Health of Students
Lack of Social Interaction:
Social interaction is the day-to-day communication, verbally or otherwise, between individuals or groups. As simple as it may seem, social interaction is a necessary tool in every individual’s life. Why? Because through social interactions, we grow as individuals and learn more about others and ourselves. To this effect, if a man spends the majority of his life locked up in his apartment, he wouldn’t know how to properly interact with people and would be described as abnormal.
Hence, when a student is removed from a social setting, he/she might not just find it hard to adjust but also find it hard to interact with people. Not only that, psychiatrists advise against staying home 24/7, it is detrimental to mental health.
Increased Anxiety:
According to the Oxford dictionary, anxiety is the feeling of nervousness, worry, or unease about an event with an unknown result. Anxiety can be caused by all forms of stress; stress at work, school, in a relationship, over a political issue, and financial stress. Excessive anxiety or anxiety disorder is generally caused by a build-up of past traumatic events.
Schooling is generally stressful, but sometimes the social interaction in a school setting reduces the stress. The high-five shared in the hallway, the laughter, or petty jokes could considerably reduce stress. However, when social interaction is limited, there is no avenue to relieve stress, which increases anxiety. Therefore, an online school that limits social interaction could increase anxiety.
Virtual Fatigue:
Fatigue is the constant feeling of tiredness, it could be physical, mental, or emotional. The individual feels generally worn out and unable to continue with present and future tasks. There are various causes of fatigue such as lack of sleep or physical activity, grief, obesity, grief, certain medications, physical exertion, etc.
Virtual fatigue, therefore, is the feeling of tiredness that arises after an online event such as a class or a meeting. Staring at a screen for hours might seem like an easy task, but not only is it detrimental to students physically, but also mentally. It is exhausting, and student usually finds it hard to handle fatigue.
Loss of interest:
To focus and complete a certain task, students need to retain an interest in their various activities, especially schoolwork. Therefore, lack of social interaction, anxiety, and fatigue could make the student lose interest fast. They’d lose interest not only in their academics but in other things as well because the state of one’s mental health affects the general motivation.
Advantages of Online School
- Reduced costs
- Flexibility
- Convenience
- Fast graduation
- The comfort of your home
How to Reduce the Effect of Online School on Mental Health
Follow a Regular Schedule:
Following a regular schedule makes it easier to manage one’s time which in turn reduces the chances of stress, anxiety, and fatigue.
Physical Activities:
Physical activities such as cooking, taking a walk, playing games, and interacting with people around you, could reduce stress and anxiety and increase one’s social interaction. Avoid staying cooped up in your room staring at your computer all day.
Designated Study Area:
Having a designated study area reduce distractions and increases your breathing space which would significantly reduce stress.
Having Healthy Habits:
The most important thing is to maintain the health of the mind, which is strongly tied to physical health. Healthy habits such as exercising, a proper sleep schedule, eating breakfast every day, and drinking enough water would reduce stress and anxiety.
Maintain a hobby:
Just because you’re having classes online does not mean you should abandon your hobbies. Do the things you love, and hang out with friends to increase social interaction and reduce stress and anxiety.
Mental Illnesses Caused by Stress and Anxiety
Anxiety Disorder:
This is a medical condition that involves the incessant feeling of nervousness, worry, fear, and unease which could obstruct one’s daily tasks.
Clinical Depression:
This is a mental illness that involves incessant feelings of depression, and loss of interest in life which obstructs the patient from his daily activities.
Psychotic Disorders:
Psychotic disorders are a severe mental condition that affects the mind, patients are unable to reason, feel and react normally. Individuals with psychotic disorders are unaware of their behavior, and lose their sense of reality. The major type of psychosis is Schizophrenia, symptoms include, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, etc.
Eating Disorders:
This is a mental condition that manifests through abnormal eating habits and affects the individual’s physical and mental health. There are 6 main types of eating disorders:
- Anorexia
- Binge-eating
- Pica
- Bulimia
- Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder
- Rumination disorder
Conclusion
In summary, an online school can affect an individual’s mental health through the four instances mentioned above, students can take the steps mentioned to avoid getting overwhelmed.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the most common problem in an online school?
It is easier to get distracted, and it is harder to be disciplined.
- What could distract me in an online school?
There are a lot of things that could distract you, social media, your family, and television.
- What are the most common mental health problems in students?
The most common problems are anxiety, personality, and eating disorders.
- What can affect a student’s mental health?
Stress, current, and past events could affect a student’s mental health
