The younger generation’s separation from school and society through COVID-19 and quarantine has allowed them to express themselves in unique ways, and break away from the cultural norms post-COVID. 

I find that the ability to be comfortable with oneself prior to COVID, many found difficult. It’s extremely interesting to view such a drastic change in culture, usually over a longer period of time, but this happened over the course of a few years. Currently, we’re in Generation Z, but there is a more recent generation, referred to as Gen Alpha, that has yet to be given a definite start date. However, I believe that COVID-19’s effect on culture has been drastic enough to mark 2020 to 2021 as the start of Generation Alpha.

With youth kept out of large gatherings, it’s easy to change the way you dress and carry yourself. I’ve noticed that fashion has leaned to a much more alternative style, students wear dresses and other clothes that resemble lingerie-style material. There is heavy makeup use and shorter hairstyles. sweatpants, jeans hoodies, and crop tops are some of the most popular clothes in the post-COVID era. dressed for comfort and acceptance, rather than for our own taste and self-expression.

Voicing opinions has become so common that in some ways many people struggle to understand opinions are a personal belief. Spreading ideas and voices has only gotten easier, with social media having a significant presence, not only in high school and college but with youth in elementary school. All varieties of voices and opinions are floating around. It’s not a bad thing to have the ability to put your voice into the world, but it must be understood that everyone has one, and they are all different. Never before in history have humans been able to express themselves on a global scale. Only recently through quarantine have we taken advantage of this.

Lack of motivation is the biggest downside I’ve observed from this “culture flip”. Being able to access the world from your bedroom has its ups and downs, one being you never want to get up. Why would you when you can access everything there? There’s nothing wrong with being an entrepreneur, flipping furniture or buying and selling stock, even YouTube. When people lose the importance of work and half the generation is attempting to earn money off Soundcloud, Tik Tok and YouTube, it creates a weakness. Something I find to be more relevant every day is that hard times produce a strong society, a strong society creates good times, good times create a weak society, and it starts all over again. Maybe it’s a bit dark, but it feels like we’re closing in on hard times.

That said, everything coming out of quarantine, all the change and confidence in the youth is great, and it’s incredible how much a global disaster can alter society and future generations. We can’t lose sight of the importance of unity as much as independence is healthy for an individual. In the end, it affects us as a whole in both good and bad ways.