Paper Example on COVID-19: Impact on Global Immigration and Economy

Introduction

Since the emergence of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, the entire globe around the world has been affected in various ways. Countries have been forced to close their borders thus leading to a drastic drop in the number of immigrants all over the world. With a few exceptions, many countries have been compelled by the current situation to interrupt their economic processes such as transport, social processes, and political activities. These strategies have been deemed as fundamental in taming the spread of COVID-19 whose medication and vaccine are yet to be established. To this effect, many learning institutions have been closed down leaving a few that operate using online and eLearning related technologies. Also, governments around the globe have used the same strategies of imposing strict measures on social gatherings and advising the public to stay at home.

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The social gathering policies have affected many areas of human life including play. Mega sporting activities such as the Olympics and London marathon have been postponed to give time for COVID-19 pandemic to slow down. Various sporting leagues have either been canceled or significantly halted to pave way for scientists and medical practitioners to address the coronavirus concern. Therefore, the play has significantly been interrupted by the coronavirus. At the professional level, many players are forced to obey the stay and home directives that hinders them from active roles in sporting activities. At the unprofessional level, children and other members of the public no longer enjoy the opportunities to engage in play for various reasons that are related to COVID-19. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate how to play have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hypothesis

H0- COVID-19 has not had any effect on play across the entire population.

Research Objectives

Main Objective

The main objective of this study is to establish the impact of COVID-19 on play among different segments in society.

Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this research are listed below:

• To investigate the impact of COVID-19 on play among pre-school learners.
• To examine the impact of COVID-19 on play among the disabled
• To explore the impact of COVID-19 on play among young adults

Literature Review

The children’s use of the outdoor environment to initiate play is influenced by individual, physical and social factors. According to Aziz and Said (2012), demographic elements such as gender, age, and ethnicity can affect the willingness of a child to engage in play. Also, the impact of socio-economic inputs including the level of family income cannot be disregarded. Experience and familiarity also interplay with individual factors to affect their ability to play in an outdoor environment. Individual children may possess different attitudes about certain types of play and the environment.

Aziz and Said (2012) discuss social factors as a significant determinant of child play. Children brought up through strict parenting and low levels of independence tend to avoid playing as compared to those with fewer restrictions. Social factors such as the availability of friends, peers, as well as neighbors may encourage children to participate in a play. The terrain of the social environment that includes security, crimes, rural, and urban setting can also affect the freedom of children to engage in play. As far as the physical environment is concerned, Aziz and Said (2012) elaborate that the availability of spaces and play equipment encourages children to play. This includes street designs, urban settings, playgrounds, and other social amenities.

Causes of Decline in Playtime

A report by Winerman (2009) suggests that most kindergarten children in New York and Los Angeles only have access to less playtime. According to Winerman (2009), the significant reduction of playtime has been noted both in schools and at home. The playtime in jeopardy does not include structure plays in class that is moderated by teachers but rathe the unstructured plays where children are left to play on their own. It is argued that most time is lost in the form of video games, and educational computer programs. Therefore the reduction of playtime in school can be attributed to institutional trends while at home, this decrease can be linked to technological inclinations.

In a news article in “The Telegraph,” Turner (2019) argues that school playtime is becoming a thing of the past. It implies that children do not have adequate time to play while at school. According to Turner (2019), only 1% of the secondary schools in the UK have allocated afternoon breaks which is extremely low compared to 41% thirty years ago. It implies that the average playtime for most high school students in the UK is sixty-five minutes per week. Given that most students are at school, it implies that their overall playtime per week is extremely low as compared to the past. The statistics, in this case, is supported by the increasing trends of childhood obesity in recent years.

In the past five decades, children in the US and other developed countries have lost play opportunities (Gray, 2011). According to Gray (2011), the best play environment is the outside and uncontrolled environment where children get the freedom to create their games. In such circumstances, young people can explore a variety of options, enhance their creativity. However, Gray (2011) introduces another version of play that is rampant today, directed play. Gray (2011) notes that many children are enrolled in professional trainers of different sports such as soccer. In this way, these children get an opportunity to engage in play hence increasing their overall playtime. Therefore, despite the drop in free play, other forms form of controlled play are still noticeable in society.

Analysis

Impact of COVID-19 On Play Among Pre-School Learners

The need to stay at home has awarded many pre-school students a lot of time because they do not have to attend schools. However, this category of children does not have much to do with their work other than play at home. It is expected that some are likely to experience more playtime or screen time depending on their socio-economic status.

It reveals how the playtime among pre-school children has changed during the COVID-19 period. It is evident that most of the children have agreed to the fact that their playtime has increased. The increase can be attributed to the reduced time of controlled play in school. At home, most of these children have adequate time to play with others in a less restricted environment. The portion of children whose playtime has increased is a reflection of the argument presented by Turner (2019) who argues that school playtime is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Most schools have concentrated on filling the timetable with lessons while allocating insignificant time for children to play. In this case, the closure of schools due to the coronavirus pandemic has forced all children to remain at home. The stay at home requirement has afforded many children adequate time to engage in play.

Another portion of children maintains that their playtime has remained the same. As argued by Aziz and Said (2012), the willingness of children to play is affected by different factors. It may be argued that some of these children whose playtimes have remained the same or declined are due to parental restrictions, lack of conducive physical environment to play, and inhibiting social surrounding, and personality issues. The impact of homeschooling can also lower or maintain the playtime of children during the coronavirus period. This assumption is extracted from Turner (2019) who highlights the modern emphasis on teaching rather than initiating a conducive environment for uncontrolled play.

Impact Of COVID-19 On Play Among the Disabled

Disability is one of the fundamental physical complications that not only affects the quality of life but also the ability of a child to play. Most disabled children can only engage in limited types of games. For instance, plays that involve running and jumping are not favorable for children with walking disabilities.

It is evident that the overall playtime has increased in different ways. The findings equally point out the absence of play opportunities within their school environment. Two possible assumptions can be extracted from Turner (2019) and Winerman (2009). On one hand, Turner points to the fact that curriculum focus has significantly reduced the time allocated for play. On the other hand, Winerman (2009) adds that uncontrolled play provides more freedom for children to create their games and actively participate. Base on these two positions, it can be argued that; (i) the disabled do not have adequate opportunity to play at school and this has changed after the closing of learning institutions due to COVID-19; (ii) while at home, the disabled kids have more freedom to create their games and actively participate. Aziz and Said (2012), children may stay away from the play in situations where the social and physical environment appears to be unfriendly. This line of argument can be used to explain the position of the disabled children who have not experience any changes in their playtime or those who have noted a decline in their playtime. It must be noted that the disabled are likely to shy away from new social groups or environments that do not support their physical shortcomings.

Impact of COVID-19 On Play Among Young adults

In the survey conducted, young adults refer to the people between the age of 18 and 29. This category of respondents includes the youth in college and those who have finished college. Therefore, their interests tend to vary to some extent.

It is evident that the young adults have also been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which has increased playtime. However, this category must be split into two to enhance the understanding of prevailing trends. First, there is a category of students in tertiary universities who are no longer going to school. The coronavirus pandemic forced all the universities to shut down leaving limited options for the institutions that can offer online learning. It implies that a lot of free time is available for university students to engage in play. The other category whose playtime has reduced can be attributed to the absence of peers (Aziz and Said, 2012). The group that has not realized any changes in their playtime might have maintained their social circles in the neighborhood.

The second category of young adults includes young people who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic. According to Robinson and Smith (2019), many adults tend to spend most of their time on their work and family issues hence forgetting about playtime. However, the situation must have changed after COVID-19 came into the picture.