Is social distancing making us more social?

[Updated: 15.05.2020] You may well have endured/relished (delete as applicable) being confined at home with your nearest and dearest but many found themselves separated by distance or by risk.  It seems a strange choice of words ‘social distancing’ when what is really meant is ‘physical distancing’.

Viewed at times as a curse, due to our modern 24/7 digital habits, digital technology has come into its own and we may well find that this social distancing has served to make us socially closer.  Pre-teens and octogenarians alike have been making the most of apps and social network tools to stay in touch with friends and loved ones helping to bolster spirits during lockdown. Here are a few of our favourites:

How we’ve been staying in touch with friends and family:

• Whatsapp – can be used for instant messaging, voice calls and video calls.
• Facebook Messenger – easy way to message and call your Facebook friends and contacts.
• Zoom is free for the first 40 mins of a video call – we’ve used this for work meetings but also had family group video chats with grandchildren, parents and grandparents all located in various countries.
• Snapchat – a favourite of the tweens. We’ve seen chats between groups of school friends helping the children maintain their friendships and connections during this time of physical separation (under watchful parent eyes of course).

What we’ve been playing together:

• Words with friends – Play scrabble-like game with friends located anywhere in the world.
• Checkers – Draughts board game (or giraffes to many of our children) that can be played with competitive friends and family remotely.
• Draw Something – Send your doodles and drawings to your friends and see if they can guess what it is.
• Quiz Up – Trivia game. Go head to head with friends on a variety of topics.