Being under this mandated quarantine can be a scary and isolating time, which is why it is more important now than ever to stay connected with others. You might be having social withdrawals not being able to see family or friends whom you aren’t quarantined with, especially if you’re a natural extrovert. Or maybe you’re an introvert struggling too! Either way, if you want some easy, lowkey, no pressure ways to feel social while staying home, here are some options:
1. Throw A Netflix Party
I’m sure almost everyone has heard of Netflix Party by now but if you haven’t then it’s a great way to binge-watch shows or movies with a friend. First, you download a google chrome extension that allows you to watch Netflix in sync with someone as well as chat with them in the sidebar as you watch. One of the best things about this is that you can have virtually as many people in your party as you want. So you can have your whole friend group, your family, or your club/organization meet up and netflix together!
2. Host a Frankly Game
I just found the “Frankly” app through social media. The app allows you to play question-based games with a bunch of different categories to choose from, like “confession session,” or “couple’s game,” or “family secrets.” And the app offers two ways to play: side-by-side, so you can link up with people your quarantined inside with and play it like a board game, or video chat, where you can facetime people in-app and ask/answer each other questions that way so you can still have fun with friends you haven’t seen in a while and watch their reactions!
3. Get Creative with Google Docs
I’ve seen so many tik toks recently about how people are utilizing the seemingly boring google docs to add some bit of fun in keeping up with their friends. If you really want to put some effort in it, you can play google docs tag and chase your friends around the page or even recreate sports with images in google docs and move them as if you’re playing. If your friend group is creative, you can make silly powerpoints about your chosen topics and present them over zoom/skype orwrite journal entries about your days for everyone to share and keep up with!
4. Facetime Dates
With everything going on, people can be very distracted or not reaching out as much. If you want to catch up with a friend, be intentional about it and set a time and date for it! And if you’re away from your significant other, do the same but go a step further and set up ideas for each facetime date. For example, you can both dress up and have dinner together on facetime, study together, or any of the other ideas listed here combined!
5. Vlog Your Days
If you have a lot of time on your hands and can’t facetime with your friends whenever, then open snapchat or just your phone’s camera and vlog yourself doing your daily activities! Your friends can send you vlogs back or you can all create a shared youtube to keep track of them. This can be as much effort as you want it, but will likely be a lot of fun no matter what.
6. Zoom Workouts
It is important during this time to listen to your body and not push yourself, but if you have an itch to get moving then try spending some free time doing workouts! There are plenty on YouTube that your friends/family and you can stream and do together.here are also many workout/yoga instructors who are turning to zoom to make workouts feel more inclusive! Even just zooming or skyping with a friend while doing a workout can help you feel a bit more motivated and connected.
Throughout this quarantine, make sure to stay in tune with yourself, take care of your health, and reach out to those around you. It can be too easy to keep yourself alone and distant. Take a minute each day to talk to someone and have fun using these simple ideas to stay socializing safely!