Five years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term effects of lockdown on education, mental health and social life are still being reckoned with. But for teenagers and young adults, one of the most profound – and often overlooked – impacts was on their romantic relationships.
At an age when in-person socialising, dating and sexual exploration are crucial for development, young people found themselves suddenly confined to their homes, cut off from their peers and reliant on screens for connection.
