As soon as the pandemic started and the stress and fear kicked in to everyone’s daily lives, that is when people’s social lives started to fail as well.
I was lucky and my family, friends and fiance all live in Ottawa, with the exception of a few, but for others that is certainly not the case. A personal example I have of that is one of my friend’s boyfriend lives in Ohio and she hasn’t seen him since December 2019, and doesn’t know when she will.
This is where we thank God we have social media and the means to keep in contact when we can’t do it face to face.
Obviously texting and phone calling is great, but so is sending a funny meme to your Instagram group chat to create a quick laugh, or doing a Facebook room to get a lot of people together. Or Zoom and Houseparty, where you can even play virtual games with friends. It is just so great what technology has done for us.
An article in The Drum was talking about the positives and negatives with social media during the pandemic and one of the positives was the communication between people. “Around the world, those suspected of harbouring the disease are quarantined inside their homes or in medical institutions. In these conditions, social media serves as the only reliable way for the victims of this virus to communicate with the outside world.” (para 9).
Did social media help you guys keep in touch with friends and family? What sort of apps did you use during the quarantine part of the pandemic?
References:
Sokolov, M. (2020, March). The pandemic infodemic: how social media helps (and hurts) during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Drum.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Yes! Virtual game night is such a great thing. My husband used to play trivia every week with a group of friends at the local pub. I don’t know exactly how it works because I don’t participate (this is my alone time!), but they have continued the tradition online. A friend of mine found the Settlers of Catan app. We chat on WhatsApp on one device, and play the game virtually on another. We sometimes include her sister who lives in Scotland, which never would have happened before Covid. I’ve recently used Trickster to play Euchre with friends as well. It’s nice to have these simple and fun things to do with friends even when we’re apart.
I’ve done regular hangouts on Zoom with friends and had dinner with my parents a few times in March and April, which was odd because we’re not particularly close.
The most impactful moment that I had was being able to “attend” a college friend’s funeral on Facebook Live. I wasn’t sure about how I would feel about watching it online (I thought that it would be impersonal), but it was amazing to “see” everyone who was present and I’ve reconnected with several people who I had fallen out of contact with.
For sure! Facebook messenger was a big one for us to keep up with our family dinners. There’s also an App called Family Album that allows you to share images with family members.
So sad to hear about your friend, that must be heartbreaking for them.
That is so true. I don’t have any family living in Ottawa and this pandemic situation was a challenge for me so i started taking online courses to keep myself busy. I have always been in touch with my family in Pakistan through social media and i can’t thank it much to make me stay connected with my loved ones.