By Ibne Tamim
I don’t have to be the one to tell you that we’re going through strange and turbulent times. Making new friends might seem to be increasingly difficult as we get older. We become more selective and cautious about who we hang around with. Especially now that we are in the middle of a global pandemic, it seems harder than ever to find safe ways to maintain a healthy social life.
Friends are what we need during these times. Forget about finding your BFF or soul mate; it’s awkward to even say ‘hi’ to someone through a glowing rectangle. But we need to face this awkwardness in life and just go with the flow. Here are a few tips and tricks for students to maintain connections with friends, and make new friends, during these unprecedented times.
7 ways to make new friends virtually, and remain connected to the old ones!
USE SOCIAL MEDIA
- Get on social media to follow other students in your classes and interact with them
- Follow your school’s clubs and organizations that might announce events where you can meet new people.
- Hint: Following your school newspaper is also a good place to keep up with events.
- Leave nice comments on other people’s post
- Saying nice things to people is a great way to get their attention and make yourself stand out from the crowd online.
START A ZOOM STUDY GROUP
- A study group is a great way to meet people in your class and to master the class material
- You can either schedule these meetings weekly, monthly or right before tests to study together
- At the beginning of each session do an icebreaker activity where you’ll be able to connect with each other and get to know each other at a different level.
- Leave time for socializing and getting to know each other either at the beginning or the end of your study session.
PLAN A NETFLIX WATCH PARTY
- Through the Google Chrome browser, you can stream Netflix with your friends and chat through typing online
- Instructions: Go to netflix.com. Choose the show you want to watch and start streaming the video. To create your party, click on the red “NP” icon located next to the address bar. Then click “Start Party” to get the party started, and share the party URL to invite your friends.
- What if you don’t have Netflix?
- Use Netflix alternatives…some examples are
- Amazon prime video, Hulu, Disney plus, HBO Max, Acorn Tv, YouTube, etc.
- If you have none of these we’ll simply chat like the good old days
DO THE MOST BY BEING A HOST
- Host a virtual trivia night
- As the host, you’ll need to set up a Zoom meeting.
- Invite people in advance and ask them to RSVP so you can form teams of 2-3 people each.
- Create your own questions or search online for “trivia questions” to find numerous sites with suggested questions.
- Once everyone joins the Zoom call, assign each team a breakout room to discuss answers.
- Inform teams how long they have to discuss the answers before moving on to the next question (30-45 seconds).
- Make sure people agree not to look up the answers!
- Each team keeps track of their answers to each question
- At the end of each round, go over the answers and have each team report how many points they earned for the round.
- To celebrate the winning team throw virtual confetti and spam text emojis to them!!!
TALK TO PEOPLE IN VIDEO GAMES YOU PLAY REGULARLY
- If you’re a gamer and you play certain games regularly, using a headset to chat with people in the game is a great way to meet people who might become your friends.
- Join in the voice chat often when you play games.
- Popular video games where you might meet people include Fortnite, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and DOTA.
- You can also meet other gamers by watching people who stream on Twitch and participating in the chat.
- Make sure to be respectful when you participate in a voice chat. Avoid making rude comments if someone makes a mistake or using inappropriate language, which could get you banned or blocked from the voice chat.
JOIN A VIRTUAL CLUB
- If your school is offering online clubs it’d be a good idea to join a few clubs of your choice.
- Joining these clubs will help you meet new people and share ideas and expand your knowledge
- Plus, this will help you build your resume.
EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS: FIND A PEN PAL
- Become pen pals and maybe make a new long-distance friend
- You can find websites online to assign you a pen pal in another country or contact a local senior citizen center which may be able to assign you a senior citizen pen pal.
And there you have it: 7 effective ways to make new friends virtually. It’s easy to get lonely when you are’re stuck at home all day, but you don’t have to be. Now you will be less lonely by forming a supportive network of other less lonely people.