How to keep in touch without, well, touching.
- Zoom Meetings
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Although this one is obvious, Zoom meetings with friends are seriously underrated, and there are so many easy ways to make them interesting and fun. You can use the shared screen and “Annotate” features to draw with your friends in real-time. Pull up a white screen and you and your friends can draw all over it together. Cue the tic-tac-toe competitions and hangman tournaments.
- Netflix Party
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Netflix Party is a free Google extension that lets you watch Netflix with friends – even if you aren’t in the same room. The best part? Only one person has to download the software for everyone in the group to participate. You just create a group, get a shareable link and boom! Instant movie night (popcorn not included).
- Playing Cards
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Playing Cards is a website that lets you play cards with your friends online and in real-time. They have playing card classics, like poker and rummy, but my personal favorite way to use this website is to play Cards Against Humanity. They don’t have all of the expansion packs, but you can definitely play as many rounds as you want without having to reuse cards.
- Google Slides
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This one might sound weird, but bear with me. My neighbor gave me this idea a few weeks ago, and my friends and I have been using it ever since. We created a shared Google Slide presentation called “COVID DIARIES,” and we each add a slide every day about what we did or anything else that’s on our minds. This is a really fun way to stay connected, document your time in quarantine and collaborate on a creative project.
- Presentation Night
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Everyone has a weird and oddly specific interest. Get a group of friends together and have everyone create a unique presentation about one of their specific interests. Host a Zoom meeting or group FaceTime and have each person teach the rest of the group about their niche hobby or interest. Bonus: make Kahoots about your presentations to make sure everyone paid attention (or just to hear the Kahoot theme song).
- PUBG Mobile (I know, I know)
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It may be very 2016, but I’ve recently discovered that PUBG is just as fun now as when I was a high school freshman. It’s a straightforward online game that lets you talk to your friends while playing on a team with them. It’s free on the app store and super easy to use, once you get the hang of it. Just be aware that your team has to have exactly four members, so it’s best to play with three other friends.
Having to stay home is no fun for anyone, but we can get through this! Reach out to your friends, ask how they’re doing and keep in touch with the people you love!