Researching the Social Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Students in Greece

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the lives of people around the world, causing constraints, pressures, and deviations from habits as well as necessary survival activities. Its sweeping and leveling character has not left unaffected any part or any structure of our society, above all education. The lockdown and social alienation imposed on people as measures to stop the transmission of the disease has caused social, cognitive, and psychosomatic consequences, especially in the student world. This is not only because the learning process was initially interrupted and then replaced with distance education but also because students’ social activity and social life changed radically. We consider in the present research the social impact of the pandemic as a benefit or a disadvantage in terms of students' social distancing, and their assessment of the difficulties and deprivations they experienced in order of precedence, as well as their views on dealing with the negative consequences of lockdown and social distancing. We aim to conduct a scientific discussion of the conclusions regarding the conditions created for young people in the context of lockdown and isolation and the views of young people on how to deal with the consequences of the pandemic.