By
March 30, 2020
At 11:59pm on 25 March 2020, most of us began four weeks of essentially staying at home. It’s going to take time to get used to life inside our household ‘bubbles’ – but our broadband connections can play a unique role in helping us to work and study, as well as keeping us connected and entertained.
First things first: make sure your connection is as fast and reliable as possible. You can find tips and tricks for doing this in the first blog of this series which includes six ways you can improve your connection at home.
This is a new experience for all of us, and four weeks being at home might seem a daunting prospect. So before we take a look at our ‘A to Z of broadband happiness’, here are some important resources for everyone’s mental wellbeing. The Government has posted a helpful page with practical advice on how you can take care of the mental wellbeing of you and your family during this time. The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand also has a page with useful phone numbers if you’d like to talk to someone.
If you’re looking for inspiration for new things to try, or different ways to pass the time, we’ve come up with a list of broadband-based ideas and activities for the coming weeks. Hopefully there’s something here for you to enjoy:
Audio books: Amazon is currently offering free audiobooks via Audible. And David Walliams is releasing a free kids’ book every day for 30 days on Soundcloud.
Bake, grill or stir fry: cook a new, mouth-watering recipe by following a video on the Tasty YouTube channel.
Chess: learn how to play, figure out daily puzzles or challenge a friend or one of 35 million players around the world on the chess.com website or app.
Digital photos: edit and organise the thousands of pictures on your computer. It’ll free up hard-drive space and might inspire you to create a hardback album with Photobox.
Exercise: keep physically and mentally fit, as well as strengthen your immune system by working out with apps like Sworkit, Seven - 7-minute workout and Smart gym, or in front the Les Mills and Blogilates YouTube channels.
Friends: take a look through your email inbox or your Facebook friend list and find someone you’ve not said ‘hello’ to for years. What better time than now?
Giggles: watch your favourite comedian or the best bits from a classic show on YouTube. Or make someone else laugh by recording your kids telling a joke and then sending it on WhatsApp.
Happy Birthday: send a funny eCard or eVideo using JibJab to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, Easter or the completion of a work project.
INXS: Crowded House or Lord? Put together a new playlist on Spotify or the music platform you use - and share it with friends.
Juggle: spend a little time each day mastering a new skill, such as keepy uppy, spinning a basketball on your finger or juggling three balls.
Knowledge: learn something new that will help you when you get back to work. You’ll find a number of resources at NZ Marketing Association, Code Academy, Udemy, HubSpot Academy, Linkedin Learning, Google Skillshop and Learn with Facebook.
Live streams: enjoy daily live broadcasts from comedians including Ricky Gervais and Little Britain’s Matt Lucas. Musicians including Chris Martin from Coldplay and John Legend have also performed live from their homes.
Meditation: take care of your mental wellbeing with mediation apps like Calm and Headspace. There are also apps for reducing worry, including Alright, Moodlift and Happify.
Netflix: neither are we short of time or amazing content to stream. So take your pick from TVNZ, Freeview, Netflix, Neon, Lightbox, Amazon Prime and more. Before you dive in, see if any of the pay services are offering free introductory trials.
Organise: get stuck into those jobs you’ve been putting off: clearing the garage, the rumpus room or that cupboard where everything ends up. You can make you a few dollars while you’re at by putting things you no longer use on tradme.
PE:schools may be closed, but PE lessons are continuing. P.E with Joe is live and then posted on YouTube every weekday, making it easy for everyone in the household to burn off some energy.
Quiz time: challenge your friends and family in other households to a quiz using Zoom or Houseparty. Every house prepares a round of 5 to 10 questions, and then takes it in turns to ask them.
Religion: many services for various faiths are now being streamed live, including from The Vatican.
Science: enjoy at-home science adventures every weekday with Nanogirl. These fun and educational experiments for kids aged 7-11 come with cheat sheets for parents, so you can help them without needing to know all the answers.
Time out: pre-download your favourite podcast on acast or the platform you use, and enjoy some time to yourself by going for a walk alone.
Urdu: German, French or Spanish? Learn a new language in time for your next overseas trip using one of the many free language learning apps.
Viral videos: check out Thrillist’s 100 all-time best YouTube videos or have a go at making a funny video yourselves.
Word games: exercise your grey matter with the classic game Words with Friends. It’s been updated to include a variety of modes, so you can tackle solo challenges or play against friends and family across the globe.
Xbox & PlayStation: If you can’t beat them, join them; introduce the kids to games you used to play like PAC MAN, Banjo-Kazooie and many more.
Yoga: take up yoga or continue to practice while your classes are on hold with yoga app Yoga Studio or YouTube channel Yoga with Adriene.
Zoom: lastly and perhaps most importantly, brighten your day by connecting with friends and family in New Zealand and around the world with Houseparty, Skype, Google Hangouts or Zoom.
We hope you’ve found our three-blog series helpful. If you missed the first two, here’s some advice on how to improve your connection and tips on how to be more productive when working from home.
Disclaimer: while we’ve been careful to check all the links and apps in our ‘A-Z of Broadband Happiness’, Chorus always recommends discretion when viewing and/or using third party websites, apps & games, and we cannot be held responsible for their content.