The Feed’s Documentary “Pandemicland” Details What It’s Like Growing Up During COVID-19

Filmed over 10 months, it follows young Aussies as they come of age.

Living through the COVID-19 pandemic has been a weird and interesting journey, to say the least.

While it has had a profound effect on everyone’s lives, no one has felt the full force of lockdowns, restrictions, and changes to daily routines more than young teens and students.

For many students and teenagers, working from home has become the new reality. Schools have cancelled classes, moved exams, and scrapped school balls, but on top of the impact on education, young Australians have learned to study online.

This week, SBS' The Feed released their documentary Pandemicland, detailing the experience of what it has been like to grow up and come of age in a world trying to survive a pandemic—something all Gen Zs can relate to.

Shot over 10 months, the doco gives viewers a glimpse into what it has been like to be young and studying in a COVID-19 world through the eyes of four diverse Australians.

The documentary tackles the effects of isolation from lockdowns, the impact on education, the ways in which the entire pandemic has affected the mental health of teens and young people, and where they expect to go in their lives in a post-COVID world.

So, basically, if you’ve found yourself entering your late teens or early adult years during these COVID times, you’re gonna want to watch this doco and share it with your family.

Following the experiences of 21-year-old Ciang from Melbourne, VIC; 18-year-old Cooper from Gerringong, NSW; 16-year-old Samantha from Sydney, NSW; and 14-year-old Mercedes from Portland, VIC, the film details how their lives have changed.

“[In 2020], I was trying to go hard with my stand up… I reckon the first few weeks of the second lockdown I was really depressed… so sad about how I couldn’t do anything to achieve certain goals,” Ciang told The Feed.

The report for the film states that by 2050, it is predicted that 60 per cent of the Earth’s glaciers will have melted. Australia will slip from 19th to 28th on the rank of global economies, and until then, we won’t know the full effects of COVID-19.

At that time, all the participants in Pandemicland will be in their 40s or 50s.

For now, in 2021, it is clear that the pandemic isn’t over yet, and it’s still creating huge changes in the lives of people all over the country.

Pandemicland aims to offer young Aussies more empathy, compassion, and perspective in these weird times, which we could all use a little bit of.

If you wanna catch the full story, you can watch the 53-minute doco on SBS On Demand now.

Idk about you, but that’s what I’ll be watching tonight.

Header Image: SBS