How College Students Are Coping With Online-Only Learning in 2020
We Get Students’ Thoughts on School, Virtual Learning, and 2020.
One of the biggest things everyone will remember about 2020- besides the entire world going crazy- is the worldwide transition to virtual learning.
Most of the media coverage on virtual learning is focused on parents of school-aged children, and understandably so: it’s an immense burden for working parents to homeschool their children, even if the parents are working from home.
The Forgotten Virtual Students
The forgotten demographic, though, has been college students. Although many of them had already experienced distance education in semesters past, the ineptitude of many professors toward distance education technology has been heavily memed among the college aged set. It’s gotten to the point that many are questioning the value of an expensive college education, especially since “the college experience” is all but gone now and work is now mostly self-guided. The news that colleges are mailing brains and other body parts to students to dissect is proof that universities at least have some understanding of the urgency of the situation.
Who knows what that means for the future of education? For all we know, enrollment at the nation’s 4 largest universities: Texas A&M, Ohio State, University of Central Florida and Florida International University may look drastically different in the post-COVID world. Current students are finding ways to adjust though, even if it’s been a roller coaster ride, emotionally speaking.
“Not having the whole ‘college experience’ definitely takes some of the reward out of working hard”, says Nathalie B., a Junior studying Communications at the University of Texas. Taina M., a senior in the Business Management program at the University of Florida, sees it another way though, “everyone knows that this situation sucks, but I’m not gonna lie- I’ve never seen all my friends studying so much. Me too, because there’s really been nothing else to do!”
Dealing With Tired Eyes
“A few weeks into all my classes going online in the spring, I noticed that I was getting headaches from looking at the computer so much. Like, I look at my phone all day, but this felt different than it usually does with that”, said Taina.
Her situation was not unique, in fact, it’s been experienced by a large percentage of virtual learners and people working from home. “Screen fatigue” is the common term for a variety of problems caused by looking at screens as much as we do- and it results in tired eyes, headaches, sleep issues, depression, and even vision loss over time.
Quite simply, the blue light from our screens can make us even more tired than we might be from staring at anything else all day, and can actually fool our brain into thinking it’s daytime, causing us to miss out on proper sleep. Of course, this will create a vicious cycle that will lead to even more tiredness.
Taina and Nathalie both purchased authentic THEBLUESPEC glasses, and it helped them deal with their headaches and eye irritation.
“THEBLUESPEC blue light glasses, with occasional eye-rest, has been the best way for me to take care of my eyes and actually sleep well at night”, says Natalie. “We wear masks everywhere now, we need to take care of and protect our eyes the same way.” Natalie purchased two pairs- the pink and the black colorway- because “they’re cute and they have to match whatever I’m wearing that day”. Taina, meanwhile, purchased the clear frame version. “I like how lightweight they are, that really sold me”, she says. “Wearing my mask everywhere already puts a strain on my ears, I can’t have heavy glasses too”.
Select your pair of authentic THEBLUESPEC glasses here>>
Thanks Taina and Nathalie for interviewing for this article!
UCF Image Credit: By Hmickey – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90935426
FIU Image Credit: times of higher education
Reposted From: Source