Weekly Wellbeing - Staying Socially Connected During Coronavirus
A lot of us have been missing our usual social connections as we all do our part to #flattenthecurve in these weird times.
Thankfully, there are a lot of fun ways to improvise with technology and stay connected with your friends and family - ReachOut got together with Flex Mami to make this video, which is full of different ways to stay socially connected, even when you're physically apart.
"This is a confusing time for everyone, but it’s never been more obvious that we’re better together"
This community has also been a really powerful reminder of how connections can be so strong and meaningful even when you can't be physically together - most of us have never met face to face, but come together to share and support each other.
We'd love to hear what you've been doing to stay socially connected at the moment- have you tried any online games? Is HouseParty your thing? Have you started writing letters and cards to loved ones? Have you hosted a Zoom dinner party?
I am planning a virtual games night with some friends this weekend, and we had a Zoom birthday party for my little dude the other week. It's not quite the same, but it's amazing how connected you can still feel.
It's also important to remember that some of these things don't work for everyone, and that's okay too - have you come up with any different ways of staying connected that work for you?
Comments
@Janine-RO My sister and I have tried Houseparty. 🙂 Surprisingly, one of her doctors was also on it which was a bit awkward. 
We also chat with our friends and family over Discord. We've put some bots onto our servers we can play games with. We have also played online games with each other. I have listed some here.
I have also watched online events with people online and other people in the same room. I haven't tried the Netflix Party feature, but it sounds like a great idea!
Online courses can also give people the opportunity to chat with other people taking the same course and learn new things together. I've done a few of them and I've also signed up to a few online forums.
I think the letter writing is a great idea! I have made a few virtual penpals who are also interested in connecting with other people during self-isolation. One of them and I spoke to each other in Japanese and I learned some new words and kanji I didn't know previously. It could also be a good idea to write letters of gratitude to loved ones.
I know a lot of elderly people who would benefit from having a virtual chat. I think there are some volunteering opportunities to do this depending on where you live. 🙂
@WheresMySquishy I love the idea of writing letters of gratitude, what a beautiful way to show your appreciation for people and stay connected.
I saw this beautiful video about how the kids from the abc series nursing home for 4 year olds are staying in touch with their buddies via zoom.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2764857816945347
So lovely!
All of our local nursing homes are unfortunately closed to all visitors, and we've had to cancel our intergenerational playgroup, but we are looking at trying to set up a Zoom session. If that proves too challenging we might do letters instead!
@Janine-RO That's so sad that all your local nursing homes are closed to visitors. 😞 I'm sure the residents really miss the social interaction.
I was able to visit my one yesterday. Now they are taking visitors' temperatures before they go in. The residents were happy to see me and told me that they have been starved of visitors lately. They have been able to walk around in the garden with a staff member and they are being let into the lounge and group areas now. Some are in self-isolation in their rooms. They don't seem to know about the cases at my family friend's nursing home and I decided not to mention anything to them about it. I think visitor numbers have dropped since the other nursing home was affected.
I think the Zoom meetings are a great idea! I wanted to ask my manager about it but she wasn't there.
Most of the time when I used to hang out with my friends it was to play boardgames. Over the last few weeks we have been exploring a few ways to translate our favourite boardgames into the virtual space and discovered a few nifty things! We downloaded this game (available on Steam) called Tabletop Simulator where you can download mods of pretty much every boardgame ever made and play with your friends virtually as if you were actually playing on a table and manipulating the pieces. We also found netgames.io where they have made really simple and free online versions of a couple of card games. These - combined with zoom - have been a pretty good substitute for actually playing in person! Check them out if games are your thing!
@recharging_introvert I think I've heard of that Tabletop Simulator! I might just check it out because we love playing board games with our extended family. The other site sounds cool too!
@Janine-RO I really hope that families can see each other again too. One of our family friends said to us recently that she hasn't been able to see her father for two months after he voluntarily placed himself in self-isolation in his nursing home.
The volunteer managers sent me some postcards in the mail today that I can send to residents, and they will pay for the postage and pass them onto the residents after they control for infection. I thought it was a great idea! They also sent me a nice card. 🙂
@recharging_introvert thanks so much for sharing that! My partner loves board games and I've been missing playing with friends, that looks really great! What games have you played on there so far?
@WheresMySquishy yeah, I really feel for the nursing home residents, a lot of them are incredibly isolated at the moment. I heard on the news that they are looking at changing the restrictions for nursing homes to allow a small number of visitors, children won't be allowed though. But it's great that people will be able to see their families in person again 
@Janine-RO we have played Codenames, Exploding kittens, and Secret Hitler so far! All very fun and easy to learn/manoeuvre games!
@WheresMySquishy Yeah tabletop simulator is great, I would recommend it! It takes a bit of getting used to but we started off playing games that don't use too many pieces so it made it easier to learn 
Hey @recharging_introvert , I have not heard of tabletop simulator before but based on your description it sounds great! I also love the sound of netgames.io. I hope that they have Uno available to play. Uno would have to be my favourite card game ! 
Awesome ideas from everyone 🙂
I thought I'd add some ideas on how to stay connected
- Sending your friend a gift in the mail. You could buy something from a local business or even make something for them. Nothing quite like a homemade card/gift.
- Plan a future social event/outing/getaway with friends for when we can start hanging out in groups again. It's nice to have something to look forward to and plan.
- Join a virtual workout/music gig together - there are heaps on instagram and zoom
- Try out netflix party - this is where you can watch a movie with a group of people and chat about it throughout.
Ooh~ I like this idea!
Like the questions state, Zoom and other means of video chatting have been the go to way of staying connected. Even my youth group has made a Zoom call, every Sunday. It was my idea, but I love how we can still be together virtually, even when we are far apart. 🙂
I don’t get to use my own account for these kinds of things, FaceTime is exempt, because my parents tend to be stricter on that part of socialising virtually. But it’s okay, we decided to mount a camera on top of our TV, and connect a laptop to it, and then we can call from our lounge room! It’s actually really good, too. That way, no one can see if you’ve got food stains from the day on your clothes! 🙂
Keen to hear what everyone else does! 🙂
