Staying Connected: Nurturing Friendships in the Age of Social Distancing

As we all are continuing to adapt to the ‘new’ way of living, embracing social distancing, and working from home in an effort to slow down the spread of the COVID-19 virus, exploring different ways and channels to maintain friendships can actually help counter one of the biggest concerns felt by almost everyone these days - isolation. While for some people it may have always been a bit challenging to make new friends or to maintain connections with their existing friends, it might have become even more difficult to maintain a social life or to remain in touch with their friends in the midst of the pandemic as mostly everyone is taking precautions to protect themselves and those around them by staying home and maintaining social distancing.

However, considering the unique and bizarre nature of this pandemic, it's still not that difficult to stay in touch or to engage with others and continue to build friendships. Having moral support from your friends can positively affect your day-to-day functioning, it can improve your mood and can also help keep stress at bay. Much thanks to the power of technology these days, and a little bit of creative thinking, we can all try to stay connected while practicing safe social distancing. From hosting movie nights online to arranging games that can be played online, we can try a few of these methods mentioned below to stay connected, let’s take a look.

Watching series or movies together

With multiple OTT (over-the-top) platforms offering thousands of movies and web series that you can watch together with your friends, it can be a great way to spend time together without leaving your room. All you need is to log in to these platforms such as Netflix, Prime Videos, Disney+ Hotstar, etc. find a web series which you and your friends all can enjoy and start it together, just make sure not to reveal any spoilers ahead, which can’t be good for your friendship in the long term.

Video calls

Get on group video calls and share your thoughts, you can arrange lunch and dinner dates and sit together while watching each other break bread. It's better than just a phone call, this way you can see each other face to face. Maybe try doing a few activities together like sharing a cup of tea or working out together.

Start a project and show it to your friends

You can involve your friends in starting over a new project in which everyone can contribute somehow. For example, in gardening, you all can start decorating your garden with new plants or even start with a seed and share your experiences with others over video calls. Maybe try redecorating your home with the help of your friends’ suggestions and ideas. This way everyone can stay entertained and busy together. You can also try cooking, knitting, or maybe compose a song.

Share videos, memes, or even articles about various topics

It may be useful for your friends to go through the tough times or even just for fun. Sharing positive content online with each other can help you stay connected with your friends without much communication or effort, even though it represents that your friends were in your thoughts.

These are only some of the ways that you can try, however, the list does not end here, you can be creative and maybe enroll in an online course with your friend, this way you can study together, share notes, and complete projects with the help of each other. As an old proverb goes “a friend in need, is a friend indeed”, helping each go through these odd times will strengthen your bond and will continue to get stronger when this pandemic is over and we all will be free to go out with our friends freely again like we used to.

Let us know how you’re managing your friendships while maintaining social distancing, to get in touch simply click here!