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the social distancing activity playbook: a practical guide to surviving pandemic boredom 😷🏠

jayemsey

Updated February 7th, 2024

As we enter another week of social isolation in the U.S. necessitated by COVID-19, many of us have realized that this could be our permanent situation for quite a while. More than ever, we are understanding the urgency of taking drastic action toward flattening the curve, because while our own safety may not be at risk, the lives of the elderly, immunocompromised, and service workers are. The most important thing you can do is to stay home if you can; it is the simplest and most tangible way to effectively help other people is to prevent the spread of the virus. Isolation is annoying and boring but it is temporary—death is not.

Social distancing is a strange thing, because we are free to move about the world but the edges of our worlds are limited; it feels a bit like living in a fishbowl. I’ve been taking nightly walks down to the waterfront two blocks away from my apartment, just to get some fresh air and to admire the Manhattan skyline. But there’s something very lonely about seeing the city shining right across the water—the cars ambling down the FDR, the lights winking from apartment windows, the colorful clusters of buildings glittering through the clouds—and feeling so far away, knowing that everyone else is in their own world too.

I thought I’d create a library of fun and creative (and mostly free!) resources and activities for the upcoming weeks (or months). This is not advice on developing a side hustle, WFH productivity tips, health and safety warnings, or a substitute for civic responsibility.

I want to be really clear that of course there are more important things going on right now, and staying entertained may be low on your list of priorities. But especially right now, misinformation is everywhere. I’m not going to assume the role of a healthcare professional or immunologist, and I suggest that you be very critical about the information you consume—digital literacy expert Mike Caulfield’s SIFT method is a good start. Don’t immediately trust what your friends repost on Instagram; make sure you are verifying information for yourself at the source or listening to people that are actually qualified to dispense advice. Follow the WHO for updates on the virus itself, Our World in Data for real-time updates on coronavirus deaths (here is why you should pay attention to that vs. the number of cases), the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation for projections, and your governor for state mandates.

If you are lucky enough to be able to stay home, finding whatever small bits of joy or forms of entertainment you can in this time will be crucial, especially if this goes on for months. The boredom will be the hardest part. I’ve read a lot of “Things to Do in Quarantine” articles, but couldn’t find any that were really comprehensive or well-organized. I wanted to make something that you could actually reference again and again, so use it, bookmark it, and share it!

I’ll be updating this library as long as the quarantine continues, so if you’ve got creative activity ideas, category suggestions, or just want to say hi, drop a note in the comments or reach out via email or DM. I hope everyone is safe and healthy; we could all use a little more connection right now.

New Yorkers: If you are in need of emotional support, you can call the COVID-19 hotline for a free consultation and referral to a provider: (844) 863-9314

Support your local businesses if you can afford to, or volunteer:

quick links

learn • explore • create • practice • socialize • play • relax

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1. take an online class

2. pick up a new skill

3. deep-dive into an interesting topic

4. find your new favorite newsletter—here are some of mine

  • Girls’ Night In: Self-care tips, reading recommendations, and curated products for the introverted soul (they also put together a virtual “care package” for social isolation called Stay Home Take Care with activities and resources to stay home, take care of others, uplift communities, and stay connected to loved ones)

  • Quartz Obsessionďťż: A daily deep dive into one facet of the global economy (past topics include french fries, K-pop, logo bashing, ice cream trucks, boba, and The Bachelor)

  • The Goods by Vox: A dispatch on the consumer economy—what we buy, why we buy it, and why it matters—written with Vox’s trademark consumer-friendly language and pop culture savvy with some really excellent investigative journalism

  • Just Good Shit: A newsletter full of recommendations and tiny but very useful life tips from lifestyle writer Rachel Miller

  • Maybe Baby: A newsletter by writer Haley Nahman about “hard-to-describe feelings,” examining uniquely human idiosyncrasies and emotions—her newsletters feel like a scatterplot of unrelated observations until she ties them all together in a neat little bow at the end; it’s absolutely genius

  • Griefbacon: No longer active, but the archive is really extraordinary; Helena Fitzgerald writes beautifully the wonderful strangeness of everyday life

  • Big Spaceship’s Internet Brunch: Pop culture trends, GIFs, and other internet things

  • The New York Times’ The Interpreter: An analysis of current events in a macro landscape; super helpful if you’re always wondering about the bigger picture in today’s lightning-fast news cycle.

  • Why is this interesting?: Daily musings on (and surprisingly impressive analysis of) random interesting things and the ways in which they reveal something about human nature

  • Scrap Facts: Quartz writer Katherine Ellen Foley shares the interesting little tidbits she finds while reporting on health and science that don’t make it into her stories

  • Salmon Theory: Strategy through a philosophical lens

  • Apartment Therapy: Home deco inspiration and quick homemaking tips

  • The Informant: Original reporting and intelligence on hate and extremism in America today

  • The Markup: Meaningful data-centered journalism about technology and its influence in society

  • the skint: A list of free and cheap things to do in New York City; they’ve paused their programming and are offering a list of live streams and virtual events that you can join

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5. take a virtual field trip

6. Attend virtual events

7. go outside (just maintain six feet of distance from other people)

  • Walk around your neighborhood—you can play I Spy with rainbows if you’re in Brooklyn!

  • Take a bike ride; if you’re in New York you can easily rent Citi Bikes for a quick half-hour ride and explore the gorgeous bike paths in Central Park or Prospect Park, and if you’re in another big city you can rent electric scooters (Bird, Lime) or even mopeds

  • Pick up roller skating

  • Go outside and have a socially-distanced (or even virtual!) picnic; get fancy with a bottle of wine (or a refreshing non-alcoholic drink like limonana), a cute blanket, and a gorgeous charcuterie (or dessert) or fruit arrangement

  • Repurpose your backyard—go “camping” in your backyard, or set up an outdoor movie theater with a projector and a bedsheet

  • Create your own scavenger hunt or start a nature collection—look for plants, trees, and animals and collect rocks, acorns, leaves, or pinecones

  • Explore a local state park or lake—outdoor activities like fishing, hiking, bird-watching, and kayaking are all great social distancing activities

8. take action to help your community

  • Get tested for COVID-19—a lot of states like California and New York have free testing, but if you can’t access it or you don’t have insurance, get a free self-administered COVID-19 test in the mail and check the results online (I got one administered by a doctor in New York, and he described the feeling as “hot sauce in your nose” and it was weirdly accurate...if you’re doing the nasal swab yourself, just know that you will have have to push much further than you are comfortable with)

  • Raise awareness of COVID-19 prevention and call on your government officials using Global Citizen’s tweet templates

  • Buy from Merch Aid, which donates 100% of its profits to the businesses and features local artists

  • Contact your governor with one click and tell them we want to #keepourdistance

  • If you have the resources, consider fostering or adopting a pet—overcrowded shelters in New York City, Phoenix, St. Louis, Memphis, and Austin have all put out pleas for more people to adopt in the midst of canceled adoption events and understaffing

  • Donate to Direct Relief, an organization providing protective masks, exam gloves, and isolation gloves to nonprofits public health institutions in affected areas

  • Donate to Give Directly, an organization that gives cash to individuals in need in the most affected U.S. zip codes

  • Donate to your local food bank or Meals on Wheels

  • If you are healthy, donate blood or volunteer to help deliver supplies to your neighbors that can’t be outside

  • Use Charity Watch to donate to communities and organizations in need

  • Volunteer at a local telephone reassurance program to check in on seniors and other people who may need help

  • Call your local officials and demand emergency health measures/sick days, shutdown of non-essential businesses, suspension of evictions and rent payments, and the resignation of Senators Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler for insider trading

  • Nominate local businesses or volunteer your services for collaborations through Dept. of Awesum, a “deliberate act of kindness” created for COVID-19

  • A good list of mutual aid networks by city!

  • Help edit the transcripts for the New York Public Library’s Community Oral History Project

  • Volunteer to be a Crisis Counselor for the Crisis Text Line to help people in need through empathetic listening and collaborative problem-solving—you receive free 30-hour training that you can do from your couch, using just your phone

  • Buy restaurant gift cards; they’re a great way to support the restaurants you love now, and guarantee some food for you later!

  • If you’re a creative (art director, graphic designer, copywriter, illustrator, UI/UX designer, developer, photographer), offer your skills to restaurants in need with Creatives for Kitchens

  • Help register people to vote! (Don’t forget to register yourself)

  • Volunteer to be a poll worker on Election Day

Friendly reminder

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9. try a new recipe

10. have a creative photoshoot

11. Draw or paint

12. write or journal

  • Bullet journal; there are lots of YouTube tutorials (Bullet Journal, AmandaRachLee, Stationary Island, planningwithkay, MyLifeinaBullet), Instagram accounts (@bullet.journals, @bullet_daily, @bujoindex, @marthasjournal), and a whole subreddit to help you get started

  • /r/WritingPrompts on Reddit has some great ideas for on-the-go story writing; it’s also a great place to get feedback on your writing

  • You can also find writing prompt bots on Twitter, like @MagicalRealismBot (generates a magical story every four hours), @howboutyouwrite (eccentric story prompts) and @censusAmericans (uses real U.S. Census Bureau data)

  • If you’re looking for something a little more challenging, try Story Shack’s Writing Prompt Generator

  • Free journaling—now is a great time to just record the things that happen in your life on an everyday basis; we’re living through an unprecedented historical event and someday, our personal accounts will be important, especially because we can’t trust the White House to provide accurate information (a writer at WIRED is writing an oral history of COVID-19 and is actively collecting stories if you’re willing to share yours)

  • Try Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way—just three, longhand, stream-of-consciousness pages of writing, every morning; the creator, Julia Cameron, stresses that there is “no wrong way” to do Morning Pages: “They are not high are. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand.”

  • If you want to journal online, some good sites are: 750 Words (super basic text-based model that encourages you to write 750 words—approximately three pages—per day and keeps a monthly score sheet), Penzu (customizable interface, like a private blog), and Journey (easy to add pictures and connect to your other accounts and devices)

  • If you’re looking to build more of a cohesive blog or website, try Wix, WordPress, or Squarespace (I use Squarespace, so if you like how this blog looks, I’d highly recommend it)

  • If you’re more of a phone call person, leave your future self voicemails with After the Tone

13. get crafty

14. make music

15. start building

16. create some ~content~

  • Our House is a 24/7 digital variety show in partnership with YouTube to help artists affected by COVID-19; they pay creators $50 for 30-minute segments and $100 for hour-long segments and are currently open for submissions

  • See what all the TikTok hype is about—learn a dance, participate in a challenge, or just watch the videos and enjoy the absurdity

  • Finally start that YouTube channel or podcast you’ve been thinking about—a silver lining of quarantine is that it fosters a lot of creativity!

  • Or if you’re not trying to share with the public, invite your friend group to make some lo-fi vlogs for each other—skincare routines, Get Ready With Me, apartment tours, etc.

  • Get your friend group to start sending weekly email “newsletters” to each other; you can keep it simple/doable with simple bulleted lists of things you watched, listened to, ate, laughed about, photographed, or loved (I am currently doing this with my friends and you can read them here)

  • Make a music video à la Rich Brian

  • Start an Instagram account to document the things you cook or make in quarantine, things that make you happy, etc.

  • Stretch your creative muscles and share what you know (I like to do this in PowerPoint form)

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17. do a workout at home

18. do some housekeeping

  • Wash things you don’t get to very often, like your makeup brushes and pillowcases and shower tiles (if you’re using a public laundry room or laundromat, here are some tips from an ER physician on how to stay clean)

  • Just clean your bathroom (here are some good organization tricks and spot cleaning tips)

  • Organize your pantry

  • KonMari your room—you’re spending a lot of time there, so make it as comfortable as possible!

  • Curate your wardrobe and get rid of things you haven’t worn in over a year—you can donate them to Goodwill or The Salvation Army (the latter has free pickup!), sell them to Plato’s Closet (they buy “current fashion,” so items should be less than two years old), or sell them to other people on Depop, thredUP, or Poshmark

  • Old shoes are very difficult to recycle, but Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe (athletic shoes), TerraCycle (leather shoes), and Soles4Souls (all kinds) are great programs if you’re looking to donate

  • Donate things you don’t need anymore (VVA is a great resource; they’ll pick up at your house and they accept books, which most donation places don’t)

  • Edit your “Following” lists on social media and your email subscriptions (you can use the Tokimeki app to make it easier!)

  • Try a tiny spring cleaning project

  • Redecorate your room or touch up your workspace—Apartment Therapy and Clever are great for inspiration and simple, low-budget upgrades

  • Transfer your photos to a hard drive or delete old or duplicate photos from your phone/computer; you’ve probably been putting it off because it takes “too much time” and now guess what?

  • Google your name/username and clean up your digital footprint—now is the time to get rid of all of those random profiles you’ve created over the years

  • Buy a seed kit and plant a little at-home herb or flower garden (or use this guide to pantry essentials to see what you can regrow at home!)

  • Learn how to make your lifestyle a little bit more sustainable (to balance out all of the takeout, naturally)—here are 101 small ways from Curbed

  • Declutter your home with Apartment Therapy’s Spring Cleaning, a 10-day newsletter series of small, doable cleaning tasks sent to your inbox every week

  • If you decide to give yourself a quarantine haircut, consider donating the hair to Children With Hair Loss or Wigs For Kids (unlike Locks of Love, they accept colored/grey hair and do not sell the hair they receive)

19. develop good habits/a self-care routine

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20. Host a party over Zoom or FaceTime

Remember, just because you can doesn’t mean you should, and staying safe is not necessarily for personal reasons but protecting marginalized communities

21. Play games with friends

22. make mixtapes

  • Create collaborative Spotify playlists and invite your friends to add to them

  • Host a Spotify Group Session to listen to music simultaneously with up to five friends

  • Experiment with Spotify’s developer showcase of apps like Pacemaker DJ (mix songs from Spotify and iTunes), Mangomoji (create playlists from emojis), and Setify (relive your favorite concerts)

  • Make playlists with songs that remind you of your friends and send them the finished ones

  • Make playlists with songs that have special meanings

  • Make playlists for different moods/activities

  • Make a playlist with a narrative arc that tells a specific emotional story

  • Make a festival playlist for music festival season and send it to your friends

23. Check in with people

  • Set up Google Hangouts or FaceTime dates with friends—cook dinner together, play a board game, organize your book shelf, watch on an episode of your favorite show

  • Call your parents and family members; listen to their stories and write them down to create an oral history

  • Try out the Marco Polo app; it lets you leave little video notes to each other whenever you can

  • Talk on the phone with a random stranger on QuarantineChat—just subscribe with your phone number and you’ll get surprise calls from other people in self-isolation

  • Instead of asking “how are you?” try asking for a “vibe check” (seriously)

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24. assorted fun things

25. Solo games

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26. refresh your mind

27. get comfy

28. finally catch up on those movies and tv shows that have been on your “to watch” for a while

29. work through your reading list

30. START A NEW PODCAST (ALL RECOMMENDATIONS ARE FROM MY FRIENDS and coworkers)

31. actually do your skincare routine

32. cultivate gratitude, and pay attention to the good stories

But most importantly:

  • Don’t feel compelled to self-optimize—we’re all adjusting to a new normal, so don’t feel like you need to be hyper productive 100% of the time

  • Don’t panic-buy; there are a lot of people can’t afford to stock up on necessities and a lot of communities that are in short supply, so leave some for others

  • Wash your hands

  • Be kind, and remember that we’re all in this together

happening meow

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