Putting the Social in Social Distancing

Look, we’re going to have some fun with this post, but let’s be real for a second. Social distancing is critical at keeping our community and those most vulnerable safe. Avoid leaving the house, definitely avoid groups large than 10, keep a safe 6’ away from folks if you do have to venture out, and if you must Beltline, please don’t walk in herds and try hopping over to the southside or westside trail for some solo adventuring. The Eastside Trail is nobody’s friend right now.

We all know Facetime is great, especially during group chats when you’re all koala’s. Facebook and Instagram Live are also good ways to kill a few hours with friends and strangers. Google Hangouts are a fun way to connect with friends and fam too.

To keep things fresh, we went exploring to find some other things you can do to stay social while keeping your distance. Here are a few fun apps and things to try to keep the good times rollin’.

House Party

Not your mom’s Facetime. House Party is a group video chat app with integrated games like Heads Up, Pictionary, trivia, and a “Cards Against Humanity” look-a-like called Chips and Guac. It’s fun, perfect for happy hour hangs.

Zoom

While you’ve surely been using Zoom all day for work calls and to connect with your teams, don’t forget to have some fun with it. Play with the virtual background and chat room settings. Since everyone has now graduated Zoom University, there’s no “how does this thing work” and you can get straight to catching up with a sure bet, quality stream.

Stream Live Concerts

Yes, it’s awful and not fair that the spring festival season has been cancelled and every show you wanted to catch has been postponed. Lucky for you, Billboard released this awesome (updated daily) list of concerts you can stream. Plus, a bunch of musicians are getting in on the action, like Jack White’s Third Man Records, performing live shows everyday at noon!

Volunteer from Your Couch

We recently launched some really fun and easy ways you can help those in need, without leaving the house. Volunteering is a perfect cure to help stay social because it almost always involves people helping people, in real-time. Take Be My Eyes or Tarjimly for example, you can see for the visually impaired or translate for those who need language support via live chats.

Play Video Games

Spoken like a true gaming novice, if you have Xbox Live or Nintendo Switch, you can play with friends, make new friends, and probably shoot some cartoon bad guys or leave a banana on the road for Mario to wipe out on.

Join a Virtual Gym and Workout from Home

Working out or going for a run is a great way to shake the stress of quarantining, but doing it alone? Boring. Get swol with strangers and coaches using apps like Nike’s Run Club, Aaptiv, or Peloton Digital (free for 3 months).

Host a virtual Civic Dinner

Dinner dates are great. Dinner dates that bring friends together to raise awareness to serious community challenges and talk through potential solutions? That’s a Civic Dinner date. Put yours on their calendar, invite your friends and grab your iPad or laptop for a meaningful, fun conversation.

Netflix Party

Netflix Party is a new way to watch Netflix with your friends online. Netflix Party synchronizes video playback and adds group chat to your favorite Netflix shows. Try it out tonight!

That’s it. That’s our list of ways to stay social while social distancing. We’ll see you (through a screen) out there. What are you doing to stay social while social distancing? Let us know in the comments and we’ll share our favorites on our Facebook page.