Maintaining relationships while social distancing

Katherine Daly & Aliyah Rodriguez, Staff Writer & Staff Writer

With the COVID-19 pandemic, each passing moment brings us into a strange new reality. During this time, we’re being advised to stay home and distance ourselves from our friends and our families. While we are all adjusting to this new routine, it is okay to acknowledge that social distancing has taken a heavy toll on some of the most important relationships in our lives.

Regardless of whether you feel scared or alone, just remember we are all in this together. There are plenty of safe ways to stay connected with the significant people in your life during this time.

1. Practice effective communication

Just because we’re locked away inside our homes doesn’t mean we can’t communicate. There are plenty of ways to talk to one another. Staying inside may make it easier to isolate ourselves from our friends but keeping in touch is a great way to keep our morale up and theirs. However, it is easy to get overwhelmed right now so practice effective communication by respecting boundaries; consistent communication does not have to happen every day. Learn what works best for each other, sometimes a brief phone call every couple days is just what a person needs rather than frequent texting.

2. Throw a Netflix party

Unfortunately, this situation is very complicated and most are struggling to maintain a sense of normalcy. We all have to keep each other safe, but that does not have to slow down our fun. Some students like sophomore Anthony Tirelli have thrown a Netflix party. Netflix party is a Google Chrome extension that
allows you to share a link with your friends (if they also have the extension downloaded) so you can screen share and watch Netflix together.

There is even a built-in chat service so that you can talk while the movie is playing. Spending time together this way has a greater positive impact than simply talking to one another. It brings us closer together as a community and strengthens our bond as we do something as simple as watching a movie together. Watching movies together is one of the many things we can no longer do because of the pandemic, but Netflix Party is a great substitute during this time.

“I started to do these Netflix parties as it reminded me of being back at school and watching a movie in my dorm with my friends,” said Tirelli. “It’s definitely a unique experience that I get to share, as we get to laugh at whatever we’re watching.”

3. Try video chats

One of the biggest troubles of social distancing is not being able to speak to each other face-to-face. Many of Iona’s students, like sophomore Mary Crinnion, have broken this social distancing barrier by using video chats. It’s one of the easiest, and most readily available, tools to use while stuck in Quarantine. In most cases, many people use Google hangouts, which is a platform that anyone who has a Google account can use to make video chats.

“Hangouts are the simplest way to stay connected with friends,” said Crinnion. “It isn’t hard to use and [it’s a] great way to call people when you want to see their face.”

When all this is over, we will be very grateful for the time we took to keep in touch with each other during this time. Keep in touch with your friends as best as you can. We’ll all be able to see each other soon.