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It is easy to feel overwhelmed with information at this time. 24-hour news and constant social media updates can make you more worried.
It’s important to take a step back and think about how this is affecting you. If it is, try to limit the time you spend watching, reading, or listening to coverage of the outbreak. Rather than watching the news all the time check it once a day or at set times.
Take regular breaks from your screens. Remember you are allowed to leave your house for exercise so take this opportunity to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
People often recommend going for a walk or run to lift your spirits. A podcast by the NHS called ‘Couch to 5k‘ is a nine-week programme which gradually lets you work towards a 5k run. If the fastest you’ve run is a jog to the newsagents in your finest Asda George slippers, then this is the podcast for you. It’s also available as an app for Apple or Android.
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If you’re feeling out of touch with your friends or family here’s some ways to stay in touch with free video applications to help you stay connected with the outside world.
- Houseparty – Good for a ‘house party-like’ environment. It’s useful if a few of you want to get together and play games. Be warned though, once you’re ‘online’, anyone can join your conversation, like gate-crashing, so make sure to lock the room (select the key lock icon in the menu bar so it turns from unlocked to locked).
- Zoom – Normally used for business meetings, Zoom is reliable for having a large group of people in one chat so you’ll often see it used in webinars and classes. It has a feature which switches the main video to whoever is talking which is handy for pub quizzes and having group discussions.
- Skype – This is best for one-to-one conversations where you can video or voice call between computers, tablets, mobile devices, the Xbox One console and compatible smartwatches. You can instant message within it too.
- Facetime – Only works if you both have Apple devices, but otherwise a popular choice for video and will already be installed as an application. Other free alternatives that you may already have on your device to connect via video are Whatsapp, or Google Duo.
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The Hoots Team
