Helping young adults reconnect in a post-pandemic world: ‘You are a part of an ongoing story.’

“The quad is the place we would go to link up after class and goof around,” Turner said. “Since COVID, we’ve had a lot more online courses. Some of us aren’t on campus. COVID kind of took those ordinary traditions.”

Turner went to the quad last week and sat on a bench.

Alone.

Charles Turner, no. 69, hikes the ball to quarterback Jayden Daniels.

Provided photo

Loneliness and being alone are not the same

Not that alone is always a bad thing, as Wesley Shrum, LSU professor of sociology, points out.

“The tolerance of being alone and the regularity of being alone is very different for different people,” Shrum said. “Being alone isn’t necessarily being lonely.”

Even so, social worker Tanya Stuart says that loneliness is a major problem for young adults — and people of all ages, in fact.

“It was happening before the pandemic, but it’s just worsened,” said Stuart, co-owner of The Maples and Genesis Behavioral Health Service. “We’re trying to find ways to get young adults more engaged and learn the basic qualities of socialization,” Stuart said. “The more we try, the more they try to isolate. The more they isolate, the more depression and anxiety.”

For Turner, he said his alone time on the quad was both peaceful and lonely.

“I’m used to having a group of guys around me, making jokes. I feel peaceful, but at the same time I feel loneliness,” said Turner, who is grateful he has a built-in group of teammates. “The football team is a built-in social group, but when we go to class or after practice, everybody is on their own schedule. It’s different since COVID. We’re all on our own time at this point.”

The Enchanted Forest

Like Turner, Maria Osorio, a senior majoring in English, expects to graduate in May. She also remembers what campus life was like their freshman year and recognizes many cultural changes.

“I have seen the folklore surrounding LSU die a little,” Osorio said.

For example, the Enchanted Forest, which she describes as a nice green area with trees, behind one of the dorms, where people put trinkets on steps and little dolls, like gnomes, to decorate the area.

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