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“important today”
Young people in the Corona period: “We were totally neglected”
Left alone – many young people had this feeling during the corona pandemic
Of the star asked in a large youth study in cooperation with the Cologne Rheingold Institute: What did the corona pandemic do to 15 to 19 year olds? Marie Schmitt is 17 and tells “today important”: “I think we students were totally neglected”.
The alarm clock rings five minutes before school starts. Marie gets up, quickly puts on a sweater and sweatpants, and then sits down in front of the computer. “Good morning”, it sounds from the screen. Even then, Marie catches herself mentally wandering. Shortly thereafter, she begins to gamble. The main thing is a distraction from the monotonous everyday life that the corona pandemic has given her.
Marie Schmitt is 17 years old. At times she hardly recognized herself during the Corona measures, she says today in the 298th episode of the “Today Important” podcast: “I was aggressive, sad, got fatter during the pandemic, it just wasn’t me anymore.” It helped her when the gyms reopened and she was able to meet friends again. She laboriously worked her way out of this hole. But a certain basic fear and anger has remained to this day: “Big companies like Mercedes or Lufthansa received endless amounts of money. It was always about the economy. But what was completely forgotten is: How are the students doing?”
In the corona pandemic: “We students were totally neglected”
Many students felt like Marie during the Corona pandemic. This is shown by the results of the large “stern” youth study in cooperation with the Rheingold Institute in Cologne. 1023 young people between the ages of 15 and 19 were questioned in the representative study, 30 of them gave detailed answers in depth psychological interviews. 80 percent of young people stated that they felt ignored by politicians. 57 percent therefore no longer have any confidence in politics.
Marie Schmitt will soon be 18 years old, and she too will be able to vote at the federal level in the next election. The student speaks of anger at the decision-makers, but she still has no understanding for people who turn to populist parties or other, more radical groups: “A pandemic is a long time, but it passes. And if you’re only because of that If you start making more radical choices, or go in a direction that you wouldn’t have otherwise, that’s not a sensible decision.”
© TVNOW / Andreas Friese
Podcast “important today”
Sure, opinionated, on the 12: “today important” is not just a news podcast. We set topics and initiate debates – with attitude and sometimes uncomfortable. Host Michel Abdollahi and his team speak out for this star– and RTL reporters with the most exciting people from politics, society and entertainment. They let all voices have their say, both the quiet and the loud. Anyone who hears “important today” starts the day well informed and can have a well-founded say.
“Human lives come first, not the economy”
For the future, Marie is more disillusioned, but also more resilient than the people of previous generations. Above all, she hopes that political decision-makers will learn from the corona pandemic: “Schools shouldn’t be closed anymore, that only ensures that students can’t keep up and you are torn out of your social environment. […] It must not be that in a country like Germany people are excluded.”
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