r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Sep 09 '24

Neuroscience Covid lockdowns prematurely aged girls’ brains more than boys’, study finds. MRI scans found girls’ brains appeared 4.2 years older than expected after lockdowns, compared with 1.4 years for boys.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/sep/09/covid-lockdowns-prematurely-aged-girls-brains-more-than-boys-study-finds
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u/Worth-Slip3293 Sep 09 '24

As someone who works in education, I find this extremely fascinating because we noticed students acting so much younger and more immature after the lockdown period than ever before. High school freshmen were acting like middle schoolers, middle schoolers were acting like elementary school kids and so on.

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u/praefectus_praetorio Sep 09 '24

My 16 year old, then 12, went downhill during lockdowns and now post Covid. In education and I think also mental health. It’s been a struggle.

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u/n8dom Sep 10 '24

My son's social life took the biggest hit. He's introverted and was just beginning to make friends at school when the lockdowns happened. We've started the process over.

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u/praefectus_praetorio Sep 10 '24

That was a massive hit for him as well. His circle was reduced to 2-3 friends over dozens at school. It's been a struggle getting him to make new ones.

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u/Son_of_Zinger Sep 10 '24

Rough time for my son in college. He said it felt like an extra in some weird, dystopian movie.

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u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth Sep 10 '24

Of all the timing to be in college I'd say being a freshman in 2020 seems pretty dang bad.

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u/elwebst MS | Math Sep 10 '24

Both of my daughters graduated during the pandemic (one BS, one MS). They both said it felt vaguely unreal and anticlimactic - like, did we really graduate?!?

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u/Legend13CNS Sep 10 '24

I graduated from a major university in December 2020, it was bizarre to say the least. There were exams more or less like normal (in-person with masks/distancing) and then it was just over. I walked out of that last exam and it was like all the seniors were just dazed from the whole experience. In-person graduation later on made it feel more official, but in the moment it was more relief that we made it than excitement to be finished.

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u/TheWizardOfDeez Sep 10 '24

I graduated in August of 2020, stepping away from my computer at home after my last exam felt exactly like that x100. I literally just had the rest of my day to stop worrying about school and start worrying about finding a job.

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u/notsurewhattosay-- Sep 10 '24

Hope it's going well

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u/TheWizardOfDeez Sep 10 '24

Yeah, I am lucky to have found a job in my industry (software development) before the great layoff occurred and I am thankfully still employed at the small business I started at. The hours are ass and the work feels kinda meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but it's keeping a roof over my head and food on the table.

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u/casper667 Sep 10 '24

Damn I graduated December 2019 and then my first job worked in office for like 2 months before they went fully remote. It was great timing tbh I've been WFH ever since.

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u/RockAtlasCanus Sep 10 '24

FWIW, this reads like you could have written about my experience, and I graduated in 2013. I just graduated with my masters this spring and it was the same.

It’s surreal when a big part of your life just suddenly ends and you think “now what?”.

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u/Molleeryan Sep 10 '24

To be fair though I graduated before the pandemic and felt the same way. I think it’s common for people to expect to feel a certain way when they graduate and then they don’t.

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u/Zakalwen Sep 10 '24

I can see why it would feel more anticlimactic during the pandemic. When I finished my last exam half the course went to the student Union to celebrate. It was a morning exam and across the day as other people finished their last exams they too appeared, and the whole vibe on campus was increasingly electric.

Not everyone finished on the same day but over those last few weeks this kind of thing was constant and built up to a bunch of parties and celebrations.

I can see why, if you couldn’t have any of that and just went straight home from a last exam, the experience would feel distinctly anticlimactic.

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u/Latter-Detective-949 Sep 10 '24

That's how college graduation always feels.

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u/Grifasaurus Sep 10 '24

I mean that’s how i felt when i graduated high school in 2012 too. Hell, I don’t even remember the actual day. I just remember going home and playing halo 3 afterwards or maybe reading some comics. Just remember being bored mostly.

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u/dkdalycpa Sep 10 '24

Same, my son got his BS in chemistry at USCB and her said it was such a let down, no ceremony just a 10 minute youtube video from the chancellor congratulating everyone. The year after, UCSB had Oprah Winfrey give a speech for those that graduated in 2021. Such a bummer.

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u/DESR95 Sep 10 '24

I got my MS during covid. I had just completed my first subject testing before the initial two week quarantine, too, haha. I ended up having to stay until December to finish my thesis instead of finishing in the Spring because I had to pivot to a different but luckily related project. I was pretty bummed I didn't get to graduate with all my grad school friends and do the hooding ceremony, but I'm just thankful I got to walk for my bachelor's degree at least!

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u/greeneggiwegs Sep 10 '24

Yup I got my MPH during Covid. Classes got moved online super suddenly and so many of mine got cancelled because the lecturers had to do emergency Covid work that some of them never met and I just never saw my classmates again. I found out I graduated via email and they mailed my diploma to me.

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u/ClaireDeLunatic808 Sep 10 '24

It was an incredibly surreal experience graduating in May 2020.

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u/Used-Concentrate5779 Sep 10 '24

I graduated in 2020. Played a spring sport at a division 1 school. I remember getting into the locker room after a game and my athletic career i spent 14 years pursuing ended in the blink of an eye. It felt like a weird movie, never had a commencement, doesnt really bother me as i was hapoy to get out of there but i felt for the people that had year(s) left.