Relationships During the Time of COVID-19 Changes

• May 26, 2021

By Olivia Janasik & Naomi Bloom

STAFF WRITER

With the pandemic, maintaining and creating relationships throughout the past year has been a tough experience for all of us. Whether it was with our classmates, friends, or even close relatives, COVID has torn apart many close and long-lasting relationships. 

However, the majority of AHS students have managed to stay connected, and even had new relationships blossom over the course of the year. With fun, engaging, and most importantly safe, and COVID-friendly activities such as these, students were able to spend time with one another while staying safe and healthy. 

Outdoor Ideas

With warmer weather on the horizon, outdoor activities are more popular than ever. When it was colder out, some students would have campfires outside their house. This can also be a great idea this spring, with s’mores and other yummy treats. Senior Ben Entner is all in for going to the beach. He and his girlfriend like to go watch the sunset together, since at night there aren’t as many people around, making it safer than when it’s super crowded during the day. 

Alex Grenon told ANDOVERVIEW that she enjoys having socially-distanced picnics with her family and friends– enjoying the food and each other’s company. 

“I love spending time outside with my friends, especially when we go on hikes and have a picnic at the top, it feels really rewarding,” she said.

Socially-distanced movie nights by using a projector has also been a nice way to get together for Alex McNally and his friends outdoors. A few other ideas students reported were going hiking, playing sports, or even just walking around downtown Andover. Even better, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has deemed it safe to not use masks outside for people who are vaccinated or if you’re not in a crowd.

Indoor Ideas

For those who are more indoorsy types, there are still plenty of fun activities to do with the social-distancing guidelines. Whether this be at work or after school activities, any human interaction out of school is nice at this point. Sophomore Diya Ganesh said that since she does work at Kumon, she gets to interact with the little kids, and she also meets with her Destination ImaginationI team on some Sundays. 

Going to restaurants or getting coffee with friends? It’s still important to wear your masks indoors if you’re not at home. Senior Lizzie Jones  told ANDOVERVIEW that “it’s really fun to rent a movie theater so that you can go with a group of friends, but still be able to socially distance very well.”

At-Home Ideas

With new technology and specific apps created during the pandemic, students have found a multitude of ways to interact with each other from their own homes. 

Among Us is not really popular anymore, but it really showed how much people could connect with each other from home, aside from video calls. Many students have resorted to Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat, and even iMessage games to interact with games or just simple conversations with each other. iMessage games are also a great way to enjoy your friends’ presence; Crazy Eights for larger groups, or simply a 1-on-1 game of pool. Playing Minecraft or other multiplayer games with friends is another great idea for safely spending time together. 

For example, senior Mila Mejia has enjoyed playing Crazy Eights on her phone with her friends, adding that “Crazy Eights is one of my favorite games to play while I’m at home and bored.”

Discord is another popular and common, group-chatting platform. “I don’t really FaceTime or video call people a lot,” Ganesh said. “To be honest, the way I interact with my closest friends is by sending them half my Instagram feed through DMs.”

While quarantine hasn’t been easy, it’s great to see how people have come together and found new ways to keep in touch with each other. Even though things are still changing with COVID, it will hopefully continue to become safer with the increase in vaccinations around the world, and more locally in Andover. Although things surrounding the pandemic have been getting progressively better, it’s still important for us to stay safe without endangering ourselves and others during this time.