I APPLAUD initiatives to provide computers for children being home-schooled at present – giving all schoolchildren a laptop is the nearest thing to giving them an immunisation against psychiatric illness in adult life.
A study published last month in the journal Psychological Medicine showed that Generation X (those born from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s) have higher rates of mental ill-health in adulthood when compared with Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964).
This is thought to be because Generation X entered the job market at a time of recession and high unemployment, causing stresses that have had a lasting effect on their mental health.
The study raises concern for today’s generation of children, who may experience lasting damage from lockdown and school closures.
The lack of school itself has a widespread harmful impact far greater than the loss of the educational programme.
The discipline and structure of school life serves as training for work life, and relationships with teachers and friends strengthen resilience.
There is an emerging mental health crisis and doctors are already seeing rising levels of anxiety and emotional disturbance in children.
Lockdowns have robbed them of what is traditionally gained from school and the only substitute is online activity. It has been said that a home without internet access is like a home without running water, and I’d add: a child without a laptop is like a child without a washbasin.
Every child needs their own hardware – and they need it more than they do a Covid vaccination.
Making certain every child has a laptop is to provide a degree of protection against the psychological damage that lockdown and school closures are causing.
We must help each and every one of them communicate and learn for the sake of their future health and survival.
© Solo dmg media
