Due to the nation-wide quarantine from the COVID-19 pandemic, communicating with friends and family has become incredibly difficult. We can no longer go out to visit friends or family since we are stuck at home, but there are alternative ways to still keep in touch.

A popular way to communicate has been through social media, such as Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok- which has been steadily rising in popularity, even before COVID-19 had become apparent. Using these social media platforms helps people communicate easily, since they are incredibly popular and easy to use. However, if you do not own social media, like myself, there are still ways to talk to people you are close to.

One of these options is Zoom. Now, Zoom has become a more popular way of communicating due to online schooling. Schools use this platform to communicate with students and help them continue their academic career from home, but it can also be used to chat with friends via video calls. It is simple and easy to use, and you can invite a large group of people to talk to, so restrictions on how many people can fit in one chat isn’t a major issue.

Another communication app, which I have been using frequently since quarantine started, is Google Duo. This is also a video calling platform, but can also be used for texting and has a variety of fun filters to send small video messages to friends, similarly to Snapchat. You can have up to eight people on a chat, which isn’t a lot, but the quality is near professional and the app connects to your contacts so you don’t have to add in phone numbers or usernames manually. 

Up next is Google Hangouts, which had been well-known before quarantine started. It uses email to communicate, but also has text-like and video calling features. This can help people who may not have a mobile device, though that is rare nowadays, or people who are more comfortable communicating through email than texting. 

Finally, there are simply the Message and Phone apps that were already downloaded once your phone was made, so you don’t have to spend time downloading apps from an app store. These are simple, and look different depending on which model you have, but are reliable nonetheless. It seems like people tend to use social media to communicate with people these days, so if you want to feel a little old school then you can use these apps to help keep in touch.

There are a variety of ways to communicate with loved ones, and even though it may not be the same as face-to-face interaction, hopefully these suggestions can help you keep in touch.