How Young People Are Using "Tech for Good" to Maintain and Make New Friends in Isolation
By Katie Santamaria, Columbia University ‘21
This is where the power of social media was put to good use. In conversations with several high school and college students, we came up with some key factors.
Do something with your friends while on Zoom calls including: Play Pictionary, create PowerPoints about some fun facts about yourself and share, host Hulu and Netflix Parties, and participate in Scavenger Hunts that take you offline in your home, but bring you back together online.
Even though video addiction can be a serious problem, balanced video game playing allowed many to stay connected over the phone while they played or on the platform Discord.
The power of communication became very important to maintaining relationships because different people had different needs for friendship. If one person wanted to connect more than another, it could create tension and discomfort. Several students talked about learning to communicate these needs with their friends.
One thing some really missed was the easy, spontaneous “hang out” times, so some started turning on their Zoom or FaceTime and “did their own thing” while they were connected via a digital device.
In order to maintain relationships throughout quarantine my friends and I would schedule weekly zoom calls that would consist of different games, talking to one another about how we were feeling emotionally/ mentally and each week someone would have to pick a new topic to make a PowerPoint about. For example, one week was all about which breed of dog our friends were most similar to. These PowerPoints were always a great way to get in a good laugh and forced us to be creative and unique!
- Rebecca Deny, Chapman University ‘21
