This article is part of a pro-con package. To read the other side, click here.
I’ve been living in the house as an only child for around eight years after my brother moved out a couple years after he graduated high school. So while I am used to spending time by myself, quarantine has been more difficult for me than someone who has siblings. Because of this, I realized being a singleton is a perfect recipe for loneliness.
An argument could be made that quarantine is easier because only children are comfortable being by themselves. But because of the busy lives some of us lived pre-quarantine, the sudden change in schedule hit hard.
We began to realize that we are alone.
With nothing going on in our lives, we now have the time to notice how empty the house really is and we may begin to long for a companion to hang out with. We try to fill the time with anything that feels productive to try and hang onto the sense of busyness so we can lose the sense of loneliness.
In an article from the BBC, Gwenfair Griffith recounts multiple different stories from families about how their only child is coping with quarantine. One of the children expressed his loneliness and that while he enjoys spending time with his family, he misses people his own age that he could connect with in person.
I couldn’t agree more. I consider myself fairly social and outgoing, maybe more than the average person. So when my only social interactions are with my parents and FaceTiming my friends a few nights a week, it often gets difficult to fulfill my social butterfly needs.
I miss getting to socialize with people who I closely relate to and I miss hugs and talking face to face. My only social outlets have been taken away and while I still have technology to keep me connected, there are days where that isn’t enough.
I understand that many teens, siblings or not, feel the same way. But it’s a different scenario when you know that you can walk across the hall to your brother or sister when you’re bored, than it is to know that you don’t have that option.
Now more than ever before, we are told to distance ourselves from people we love and that can be isolating.
Make sure you are taking care of your mental health and to seek help if you need it. If you aren’t an only child, but know someone who is, they would appreciate a check in to offer some support, even if it’s once a week.
We may feel alone, but we will get through this one day at a time.
