- 2 years ago
6 August 2021
Uber-eating on Friday nights and not waking up on Sunday mornings tremendously hung-over is now a norm for us Sydney young people.
While I’m still shocked and slightly ashamed of my daily screen time (let’s just say I could’ve picked up a few hobbies in the time I spend watching TikToks), spending the seemingly never-ending number of days and weeks in lockdown is now just a monotonous task. At this point I’m numb, there’s no feeelinggg (sorry oldies, that’s a Tiktok reference).
Let’s go through my daily routine, shall we? When I am not interning from home for MedNews, I am strolling through my neighbourhood on a morning walk either listening to a podcast or Olivia Rodrigo’s album SOUR (you know, to get in my daily dose of teenage angst).
Once 11am ticks over, I proceed to search those three same cursed words on my phone: ‘Covid cases NSW’. As soon as articles with an image of Premier Gladys in front of a microphone show up, I close the phone in the name of self-care.
From this point, I spend the rest of my days sucked into a Tiktok or YouTube vortex. Before you judge me, I do sprinkle in reading a book or going for an afternoon walk here and there to spice things up. I don’t want the productivity police after me – it is what it is, okay? I’m just speaking my truth as a young person addicted to social media in the middle of a Panasonic! (sorry again – I’ll stop the references now).
Vaccines, though, are really giving us young people hope. They’re the light at the end of the tunnel for all this craziness – and if it means I can go inner-city brunching, or ‘study’ at the library again, then you best believe I raced to get my vaccine (first Pfizer jab done!).
The only benefit in my book of the Sydney lockdown is that I don’t need to buy winter clothing this year. While my shopping habits haven’t exactly slowed down (I blame it on retail therapy), I’m saving some much-needed dollars for when we can finally go out again. Oh, what I would do to feel the soles of my shoes being ripped away from my foot on a sticky dance floor again!
Delta really did the unthinkable. The girls and I had plans for the winter break. We had outfits and everything sorted when Boom! Lockdown came out of nowhere.
Now everyone’s sleep pattern is a mess and it’s like we’re all communicating in different time zones. I’m opening kitchen dance videos sent at 4am depressed that I’m missing out on someone else’s at-home festivities. It’s twisted!
For many of us young people, this last year and a half spent in lockdowns and under Covid restrictions has passed during what was meant to be the best years of our lives. Time is moving so fast but we’re stuck staying still, so we mindlessly waste it on social media to forget that much dreamed of European trip, the yet-again-cancelled festival or the was-this-the-one date we missed.
For me, I’m just counting the days until I can finally escape the four walls of my bedroom and disappear just to go nowhere and retrain my brain on how to communicate with other human beings again.
As Tuesday nights begin to feel the same as Saturdays, what can a girl of the ripe old age of 19 do other than drink $7 Aldi sangria, rewatch Gilmore Girls for a fourth time and count the days as lockdown life TikToks away.
©MedNews 2021