As social distancing continues, some Rider students have felt the effect of not seeing their friends for the past two months. 

“I feel really isolated not being able to see my friends. I also just really appreciate school a lot more because of quarantine.” junior Isabel Murphy said, “ without it, I don’t run into my friends or anything, it gets really depressing.”

Before the Coronavirus (Covid-19) emerged, students never expected that they’d be isolated from their friends for such a long time. School let out for spring break on March 13 and students haven’t been able to return since. 

“To be honest, I haven’t thought of this (happening). I mean, before the virus we could see each other at school, that’s how we usually interact anyway,” Murphy said.  

For extroverted students like junior Lexi Rosario, the isolation has made her not like herself.   

“I love being around people, so you could imagine that I’m pretty much going insane not being able to see any of my friends,” Rosario said. 

Murphy and Rosario decided to look for alternative solutions in order to stay in touch with their friends. Both have tuned to video chatting or FaceTiming their friends. For those who don’t have IPhones to FaceTime friends, Murphy suggests using Discord or the website Linkello to video chat. 

“It’s very different from just texting because you can see their facial expressions,” Murphy said, “it seems more real that way.”

In addition, Rosario and her friends have begun to stay in contact through writing letters to each other. Letters, she says, seem to be more meaningful. 

“Handwritten letters just feel so much better than texting. Since the shelter in place has been happening, we don’t get to see our friends and loved ones,” Rosario said, “writing out a letter is like giving them a small piece of you.”