Published on January 20, 2021

An online ‘life’ has become the new norm- be it shopping, studying, entertainment, or anything that could possibly strike your mind, right now, you name it, is being done in an online mode. Therefore, rather than sitting on it, we should embrace it and look into more efficient ways to go about living our lives in this new virtual manner. And the best group to start with undoubtedly would be the youth, the students of today, who consume and use it more than any other age group or profession. Here are six essential points that would help you spend your school life in this pandemic swimmingly.

1. Stable Mental Health!

Imagine dreaming to visit a theme park for the longest time and finally getting there, but with a fractured leg. It would be the same as rushing to accomplish your ultimate goal, but with poor mental health. It would eliminate pleasure and intention, making it worthless in the end. The value of mental health can never be stressed upon enough. Similarly, in this pandemic schooling season, it’s healthy to strive for the best whilst at home, in a completely unusual study environment, but if you don’t strive equally for a healthy mind, you will take the burden of it beyond your schooling years.

2. Separate Workspace

Quarantining anywhere can most definitely drive you insane, regardless of how relaxed and comfortable the environment might be. Therefore, separating the study and recreation areas in your house is highly important. You can find yourself in confusion when you work, sleep and watch tv at the same place. Designating specific areas to these tasks will not only help you gain clarity but also establish a sense of routine similar to a disciplined and supervised school environment.

3. Change Of Clothes

Routine is vital to our mental health, and it’s an important part of this routine to get dressed. The idea of sticking in PJs every day has some negative consequences, and so when we do so we can start to feel lazy and demotivated, which in turn contributes to a lack of productivity and low levels of operation. However, relaxed clothing also has its pros. If our subconscious mind is not disturbed by being aware that our pants are tight or that our shirt is uncomfortable, it creates room for our mind to completely focus on the tasks at hand, thus increasing cognitive efficiency. Therefore we need to learn to adapt and strike that balance between formal and loungewear for ourselves at home.

4. An Offline Hobby

Although all tasks and entertainment being completed online could have their share of fun, it is also important to remind ourselves to take a step back from the virtual world and reunite with the several hobbies and recreation activities that do not require any gadgets-just as we did back in our schools where no personal gadget was allowed. It could be playing your favorite sport or even an indoor game. This way you would achieve a work-life balance, and also harness other skills that might’ve been forgotten in these chaotic times, giving your eyes and mind a much-needed break.

5. Cleaning Our Laptop/PC

In a time when screen-time on our gadgets has almost tripled, it is hard to keep track of how much time we’re spending in being productive and how much we’re wasting in entertainment. Therefore, a quick hack to keep ourselves in check is to uninstall all entertainment apps from our laptops, making it free from spamming WhatsApp messages from friends while we’re trying to focus on our school assignments and blocking sites like Netflix and others to only access it on your tv or other gadgets during your break. This will allow you to remain focused and increase productivity.

6. Attitude Towards School Online

It can undoubtedly be said that the transition from an offline and regulated environment to an online and unsupervised one has created an overall shift in our attitude towards school, assignments, and examinations. The seriousness and sincerity with which students tackled school before the pandemic is not the same now. We must keep this point in mind at all times and also the fact that even if our mood is not the same, the grading and academic system with which the schools and colleges function will remain the same. Hence, to perform equally well online, we’d have to have the same attitude as before, or else it would add to the long list of problems we have accumulated during this pandemic.