The Invisible Suffering of Young People during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain and the Collateral Impact of Social Harm

Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate how the lack of institutional involvement with young people during the pandemic had negative effects, stemming from a lack of clear and precise rules for the adolescent population. The consequences manifested themselves in such important areas as social relations, physical and mental health, affective–sexual relations, self-image and overexposure to social media. We present the results of two complementary pieces of research that provided us with insight into the behaviour of young people during lockdown. The young people were divided into two groups based on age: (1) middle adolescents aged 13 to 18 and (2) late adolescents aged 18 to 23. We adopted an integrative methodological approach based on surveys, digital ethnography and focus groups to extract the results, which produced the following findings: (1) an increase in social inequalities due to the technology gap; (2) a growth in mental health risks stemming from hyperconnectivity and overexposure to social media in order to avoid social isolation; and (3) an assimilation of anti-normative behaviours as valid in the absence of any points of reference.