A NEW SURVEY of children’s experiences of Covid-19 found that the nation’s youth felt they had missed out on some key growing up milestones but that they got to spend more time with their closest relatives.

The survey was carried out by the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) in conjunction with Amárach Research. No Filter was an online survey open to children between the ages of 9-17 years in Ireland.

A total of 1,389 children from 23 schools across Ireland took part in this survey. Schools that took part were located in Cavan, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Meath, Monaghan, Sligo, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

Some findings include: 

• 48% said the pandemic has changed their life a lot, rising to 51% among secondary school children, and 55% among girls.
• Respondents said they spent more time with screens, music, the internet, playing online games, and less time running, playing football, swimming and cycling.
• Children were conscious they had missed out on a lot of milestones and events over the past two years. 
• Over one quarter, since September 2021, reported having missed more than two weeks of school as a result of Covid and 29% missed 1-2 weeks.
• 8 out of 10 felt the pandemic had some impact on their education. 

Children told the survey that they saw a lot more of their parents, guardians and siblings during the pandemic, but time with grandparents, extended family and friends both inside and outside of school was more restricted.

Of the milestones or activities they felt they missed out the most on; holidays abroad, school trips, family occasions and activities outside school featured the most, and these are the things that children are most looking forward to now that people are making plans again, the survey found. 

The majority of children said that they had the appropriate environment, equipment, connectivity and support for their online studies during the pandemic. There was however a significant minority who did not.

The survey found that over 50% feel happy and almost 40% are hopeful; 48% said they never felt scared. However, many said they experienced feelings of loneliness, worry, anger and unhappiness.

A total of 47% said they’d lost touch with friends, which made them feel unhappy. However, 45% had made new friends, which they were generally happy with.

The final question of the survey invited children to share any other comments they had about the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A variety of very honest and heartfelt comments acknowledged some positives of the past two years, but mainly emphasise the negative and potentially long lasting impact of Covid-19 for children,” a statement from OCO read.

Some of these answers include: 

• Covid has honestly make [sic] me more confident and I now have a better relationship with my family and friends. (Girl aged 12-14, Cavan)
• I think it was a chance for me to realise what I enjoyed doing and I really found myself. (Girl aged 9-11, Wicklow)
• Ruined my work ethic. (Girl 15-17, Cavan)
• I feel as though we are more addicted to technology because we stayed at home for so long and that we have lost some important communication/social skills. (Girl 15-17, Laois)

The OCO said that the No Filter survey was launched online between 1st and 15th February 2022, running for two weeks. It was shared with schools via an individual URL and consent from parents and assent from the children themselves was sought and secured.