How To Stay ‘Social’ While Social Distancing
With companies switching to remote work and millions told to practice social distancing, technology, and social media have become great resources for people across the globe to stay connected in some way.
With the presence of Coronavirus in the U.S., many are finding self-isolation or quarantine very difficult. However, there are ways to maintain and continue to grow connections during your time inside. Here are some tips for how to remain “social” while practicing social distancing during a global pandemic:
Staying Connected To Friends And Family:
There are several tools you can use to make sure that you are continuing your normal social activities during social distancing.
Facebook can be very useful for connecting with friends and family during this time. Using it as you normally do will keep your loved ones up to date with what is going on with you and your family during your time in quarantine. With Facebook being a free social media platform, it makes staying connected easy and of no cost to anyone.
This is also a great time to utilize Facebook groups. There are thousands of pages out there for you to join! There are support pages for moms or working parents that now have to help their kids with online schooling, pages for tips and tricks for any hobby under the sun, or it might be a great opportunity to make a private group just for your family to share photos, videos, messages, etc.
Like Facebook, Instagram is a great way to show pictures and videos of everyday life with your friends and family. There are options to create groups for messaging on the app to share additional pictures or videos as well as video calling.
Another fun way to use Instagram with friends and family is to create a fun hashtag. Ask them to use it in their caption and it will be a great way to see what they are up to during their social distancing.
Zoom
Still feeling disconnected from just seeing pictures or missing your weekly coffee break with friends or colleagues? Zoom is a platform available for video chatting with others making family dinners, or even game nights still possible. With their free plan, you can talk with up to 100 different people, making it an easy and cost-effective way to stay connected with family and friends.
Staying Connected to Colleagues:
Zoom
Just like for personal use, Zoom is a great resource for businesses to utilize in order to stay connected with team members worldwide. Many already have plans for their employees so there is no limit to the number of participants or amount of time on the call.
Although mostly used for professional reasons, there are some ways to liven up your team video calls. Businesses have turned to Zoom in order to host happy hours and other group bonding events.
Slack
Slack is a great tool for teams of all types. Mostly used by businesses, Slack is a great tool for you to stay connected to all members of your team. You can create “channels” to connect with large parts or the whole team at once, or even create direct messages with one or two members. You can also call, audio or video, right through the platform making it a great place to do it all.
A way to lighten up your team’s Slack workspace is to create a “fun” channel. Make it a place to dump funny videos, pictures, etc. for pick me ups throughout the day when needed.
No matter which ones you use, there are many ways to stay connected with those you love during such a difficult time. Although self-isolation and quarantine are difficult, it is set in place to keep everyone safe and healthy. With these platforms, you can keep up with your daily social activities from the comfort and safety of your own home.
– Danielle
