During quarantine, tools such as Zoom and FaceTime have gotten a lot of use for purposes such as talking to friends and attending classes. Although it is great to be able to see your friends through FaceTime, this routine can get repetitive after a while, and there is only so much to talk about after weeks of no interaction with other humans.

Alternatives to FaceTime can be difficult to find, but quarantine has forced people to get creative.

In Baltimore, Maryland, Eve Seidman ’21 is going on week six of social distancing.

“I have run out of things to talk to my friends about, and I was struggling with ways to connect with them that weren’t just sitting awkwardly on FaceTime saying nothing,” she told The Willistonian. “I was able to bypass this by Netflix Party, an application that helps me connect with friend while taking the pressure off.”

Netflix Party is an application that allows users to video chat while watching something on Netflix at the same time. It essentially is a movie party with friends — perfect for social distancing.

Sophie Calderon ’21, from Brazil, has begun to play Kahoot games with her family and friends.

Kahoot is an online website that allows you to answer questions, like a quiz, but with other people also participating.

“One day in class, we were playing Kahoot, and I had an idea: what if I played random Kahoots with my family as a low-pressure activity? We tried it, and loved it, and now I even get my friends involved whenever we play Kahoot,” she said.

Social media can also be a way of connecting with friends without having to “talk” with one another. Interacting through Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok can be very interactive with minimal effort.

Another interactive form of entertainment is video games. Although always being popular, video games have surged in popularity due to people seeking social experiences they cannot have in person. Video games provide a platform for these players to feel as if they are together.

Gus Mervis, a junior at University High School in Carmel, Indiana, has a strong stance on video games.

“I have always played multiplayer games with my friends, but my mom used to get mad when I would spend hours playing instead of actually hanging out,” he said. “Now, due to social distancing, she realizes the importance of keeping a friendship alive, even if it is not in person. Video games help me connect with my friends and still have a ‘good experience’ even if we can’t actually be together to make memories.”

Alternatives to Facetime are important for still finding common ground with others, especially when one is has not seen friends that normally you would interact with daily. It is important to reach out to others, not only for their sake, but for your own as well.

Social distancing does not have to mean distancing yourself socially from others, nor should it be. Loneliness can be a side effect of being isolated from others, but there are ways you can combat this. A text, FaceTime, letter, or another way of reaching out can go a long way.