What Is the Pandemic Skip, and How Is It Affecting Young Adults?

What is the pandemic skip? It’s a sense among many young adults of having skipped an important period of social and emotional development due to shutdowns, social distancing, and remote learning and/or work.

Three years after the height of the pandemic, despite normal life having fully resumed, some young adults feel their mental age and their current stage of life don’t match up to their chronological age. As a result, their personal growth and mental health have suffered. Let’s take a closer look at what the pandemic skip means for emerging adults.

Key Takeaways

• The pandemic skip is a feeling that your chronological age is older than your mental/emotional age, as a result of missing out on significant life experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Social distancing has affected many young people in their personal and professional lives, causing failure to launch and a kind of arrested development. 
• Some signs of arrested development are lack of motivation, avoidance of responsibility, poor communication skills, childlike outbursts, procrastination, and a lack of practical life skills.
• Young adults struggling with the effects of the pandemic skip can use various strategies to come to terms with where they are in their lives and work toward growth.

What Is the Pandemic Skip?

The pandemic skip is a phenomenon that’s arisen in the wake of COVID-19. It’s the feeling of having missed out on significant life experiences and developmental milestones because you had to put your life on hold during the pandemic. While the global crisis touched everyone in some way, young people seem to feel the effects the most. That’s because young adulthood is a pivotal stage of going into the world to find your identity, purpose, and community.

Due to the pandemic, college students who had just gotten their first taste of independence had to return home. New graduates lost jobs or struggled to find one. Others who were just establishing professional social networks were forced into full-time remote work. Dating was often relegated to Zoom.

The term #pandemicskip is so popular that it’s accumulated over 11 million views on TikTok. Young adults complain of stunted growth due to the “pandemic pause.” Many insist that their bodies are out of sync with their minds. They report feeling a disconnection between the younger stage of life they feel they’re in vs. their current reality.

Signs of Arrested Development in Ages 18–25

Young adults who suffer from arrested development are mentally stuck at a younger emotional age than their chronological age, and don’t develop mentally or emotionally at the expected rate. In general, they revert to the emotional state they were in when they endured a particular trauma or stressor—in this case, the multiple stressful experiences brought on by the pandemic. While childhood trauma is usually what leads to arrested development, living through the pandemic is causing its own kind of stunted growth in young adults.

Some of the more common signs of arrested development are:

• Passivity and lack of motivation
• Avoiding responsibility
• Poor social and communication skills
• Difficulty processing information
• Trouble paying attention
• Procrastination
• Childlike outbursts
• Being easily discouraged
• Disrespecting their parents
• Needing to be the focus of attention
• Regressing when they’re home for the holidays
• Escaping from reality through substance use
• Lack of practical life skills

How to Make Up for the Pandemic Skip

It’s not surprising that the experience of missing time has caused many young people to feel like they’re in limbo. Though they’re older than they were when the pandemic began, they may not be ready to assume the responsibilities typically associated with their stage in life. Because they’ve missed out on certain foundational experiences, they may feel unable to handle the opportunities and challenges of their post-COVID lives.

However, there are ways to overcome the symptoms of arrested development and make up for the pandemic skip. Here are a few strategies young adults can try.

Create a Timeline

Draw a visual timeline of the past three years and note your important experiences and accomplishments in three- or six-month increments. Doing so will help you process them, recognize the growth you’ve made, and give you a more realistic perception of time.

Accept the Reality

When you hold onto regret or resentment around the past, you’re stuck there. The only way to move on is to accept what’s occurred. Acknowledge how you feel. Try writing your feelings down in a journal or talk about them with close friends. Don’t just write or talk about what you lost during the pandemic, though. Look for what you gained as well. It’ll help you in moving forward.

Broaden Your Perspective

If you aren’t where you imagined you’d be at this age, don’t fret. Just because you haven’t reached certain milestones doesn’t mean you won’t get there. People mature at all different rates and ages. Accept that your life may unfold differently than you expected, and that’s okay.

Foster Connections

Rest assured that you’re not the only young person who’s experiencing fallout from the pandemic skip. Nourishing and developing authentic connections with others will help you feel less alone. Reach out to a trusted mentor. Cultivate IRL friendships. Share your goals and desires with others. You may gain helpful insights or discover new opportunities.

Reset Your Goals and Ambitions

Time may feel like it’s been at a standstill, but your goals are still achievable. Revisit them or revise them. Perhaps you want to go back to school, shift careers, find a career coach, enhance your executive functioning skills, or end a relationship that’s not working. But don’t make major decisions just because you feel pressured to keep up with your peers. Follow your own path. You’ll be happier.

Limit Social Media Use

You’re much more likely to compare yourself to others when you spend hours scrolling through social media. Juxtaposing where you are in your life—professionally, financially, romantically, or otherwise—against your friends, acquaintances, and colleagues often leads to feelings of inadequacy and FOMO. Invest less time in social media and more time in activities you enjoy.

Pursue Therapy

If the feeling of having lost time over the last three years has left you adrift, unsure, anxious, or depressed on a regular basis, it’s time to access mental health support. Addressing depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and relationship issues will allow you to grow into the life you want. A therapist or treatment program can help you develop greater self-awareness, reframe your thoughts, and stabilize your moods so you can move forward.

How Newport Institute Supports Young Adults to Launch and Thrive

At Newport Institute, we’re keenly aware of the challenges young people face as they begin navigating the social and professional terrains of adulthood. Our integrated and evidence-based approach to young adult treatment addresses their underlying issues while providing them with the tools they need to launch and thrive.

Each young adult’s tailored treatment plan includes psychiatric care, medication management, and clinical therapy, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Young adults also participate in experiential therapies such as mindfulness techniques, creative art therapy, and outdoor Adventure Therapy. Our team of highly experienced clinicians assists young adults in forging meaningful connections with family, peers, and most of all, themselves. 

Contact us today to schedule a mental health assessment and learn more about our nationwide young adult treatment locations.

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