Staying connected in troubled times

Students keep up with each other during the pandemic through social media platforms

As the pandemic separates many of us, people connect with each other however they can, mostly over the internet. Image courtesy of unblast.com.

Eric Feng, Staff Writer
November 13, 2020

Staying connected is hard during virtual learning. Students don’t get to see each other most of the time in class, and COVID-19 keeps us apart outside of school. With physical social interaction out of the window, many people have turned to alternative strategies of socializing, and like many other events in our lives, it has gone virtual.

“I sometimes just randomly message people on [Facebook] Messenger and start a conversation to pass the time,” sophomore Neil Agrawal said.

Socializing now mostly occurs on platforms like Facebook Messenger or Discord, where students gather to discuss things casually, voice call each other, and have fun. Many clubs, including Quiz Bowl, use Discord for practices on the weekends, since it comes with both a convenient voice call function and a chat function that can be separated into categories for announcements and general chatting purposes.

One particularly notable game that has brought students together over the internet is Among Us, the explosively popular murder mystery game.

Among Us is a game that involves real time action during which an imposter infiltrates a ship and poses as a crewmate, trying to eliminate the crew and take control of the ship. This creates a setting where people can debate whether somebody is “sus” or not, and encourages conversation.

“I think that Messenger, Discord, and playing games are a great way to stay connected in these troubled times, and even if things are difficult right now, they will get better eventually,” sophomore Samuel Wang said.