5 Ways to Stay Connected to Friends During the Pandemic

When spending most of your time at home, it can be easy to feel alone. Whether your state is starting to open up again or you’re in the midst of a serious lockdown, it is important to stay connected with your loved ones. Luckily for us, social media sites and instant messaging make it relatively convenient to stay in touch with friends across the country and the world. Here are some tips to help you manage your friendships at this difficult time.

Schedule Facetime Sessions

After a month of quarantine, a friend and I decided to make the commitment of facetiming each other at the same time every day. On days when neither of us felt like talking to anyone, our agreement forced us to speak to at least one person outside of our household. Although calling daily is a bit extreme, it helped me develop an evening routine after a month of not having one. 

Start with scheduling weekly facetime calls with a friend or a small group; it’s easier to make these calls at a repeated time. For example, my family has a Zoom meeting every Thursday at 8pm. 

Watch Something Together

What better time to start a new series than at home in quarantine? Watching a new show with friends gives you something to talk about and bond over. You can choose to watch the shows together or apart.

If you’d like to watch your next show together, try Kast! Kast is an app that allows you to watch shows and movies with your friends during a voice or video call.

Or you can do it the old school way by setting up your call and Netflix and pressing play at the same time!

Reach Out

A lot of us want to text someone, but are waiting for them to text us first or are scared of texting them in the first place. If the dramatic shift from normal life to quarantine has taught us anything, it’s to appreciate the moments we have with each other. 

If you miss someone, tell them! If something reminds you of your friend, share it with them! If you want to talk to someone but don’t know what to talk about, ask them how their day was or if they have any Netflix recommendations. 

This is all easier said than done, but it is important to make the effort to maintain the friendships you spent so much time building before social distancing. 

Meet Up (Virtually)

If you’re not up for a facetime session, try meeting up in an online game. Roblox, Club Penguin, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons are just a few games that allow you to create a character and meet with your friends. After our #ICANHELP training, interns and specialists met up in Club Penguin!

Honestly, nothing beats the nostalgia felt from working at the pizza shop and decorating your igloo like you did when you were a kid.

Hype Them Up

If you’re bored, try scrolling through your friend’s Instagram and Tiktok accounts and giving them a positivity spam in the comments. This feels like taking a stroll through memory lane and reminds you of all the great times you’ll have together once social distancing is over.

Remember social distancing doesn’t have to be socially distant!

#ICANStaySafe (and six feet apart)

Jordan the Intern :)