Quarantine Boredom

During the past few weeks, people have been self-quarantining to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As time progressed, this act of social distancing has left people in boredom. Stuck in their houses, people voraciously searched for anything that could pique their interests. To make matters worse, socialization became increasingly difficult as more people began to remain at home.

Soon enough, communication and media consumption via messaging and online platforms became one of the most popular methods of entertainment. However, social media can become repetitive and stale, creating the need to try something new. Here are some things you can try to pass the time during this “Corona-cation”.

Create something. Whether it is artistic, musical, story-driven or crafts-based. creating something every day can give a sense of accomplishment and help develop certain skills unattainable by other means. With just a bit of creativity and motivation, there are a large range of things you could try making with basic resources.

Listen to new genres of music. Nowadays, there are countless numbers of artists with their own unique styles and sounds. If you are open to a variety of music, you could look for types of music you haven’t heard before. Most popular music streaming platforms nowadays such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, etc. will let you search for different genres and artists.

Play online pictionary games. Skribbl.io and Drawasaurus are real-time drawing and guessing games. They will put you in a virtual room with other people and will give one person a “thing” to draw. While the person draws, others will attempt guess what the drawing is. Points are given to people that are able to correctly guess the drawing. You can also play Quick, Draw!, a drawing game created by Google. The game will ask you to draw an object while an AI will try to guess the object in 20 seconds.

Watch different YouTube channels. There is a constantly growing number of small creators on YouTube offering a variety of content. However, due to the subscription system, these creators are often overlooked. Typically, on YouTube, viewers subscribe to the channels that they like and stick to them. Furthermore, the YouTube algorithm targets popular topics and trends, narrowing the diversity of videos. Each day, try picking a few channels under 50,000 subscribers and watch their videos.

Play GeoGuessr. GeoGuessr is a game that tests your geographical knowledge. Each round, the game picks a random spot on Earth and gives you a Google Street View of the area. Your task will be to pinpoint the location as accurately as possible. Points are given depending on the accuracy of your guess. Each game will consist of five rounds. GeoGuessr also has different “maps” with select preset locations.

Although boring and frustrating, social distancing should be practiced as much as possible. It may not seem like much but keeping away from other individuals will benefit everyone on a bigger scale.

Written by Harper Kim