Distancing season: Making the most of it

How to talk to anti-vaxxers

Everyone shares a duty to combat the “riptide of misinformation” about Covid vaccines that is circulating online, said Jessica Guynn in USA Today. Unjustified fears that prevent people from being vaccinated “could cause needless deaths,” so speak up. It’s generally useful to repeat any false idea just before refuting it so that the person who shared it feels heard and so you can address potential causes of the misunderstanding. Avoid technical jargon, use visual data where appropriate, and include simple declarative statements, such as “The vaccine is safe.” Can the vaccine give you Covid or alter the human genome? No and no, as you can learn to explain by consulting The Covid-19 Vaccine Communication Handbook, available at sks.to/c19vax and authored by experts in vaccines and virology.

Don’t stress about kids’ screen time

Parents once considered screen time misspent time, but that idea is “an outdated relic,” said Kara Baskin in The Boston Globe. In 2021, “we live a digital existence,” and strict policing of kids’ social media usage is apt to backfire. Offer your children simple guidelines instead, such as the grandma rule: “Don’t put anything online that you don’t want Grandma to see.” Always remember that using social media is not a mindless activity, and that during Covid it serves “a real social-emotional function.” Take a similar approach with video games. Instead of simply condemning them, sit down with your children and play one, which they’ll understand as “a sign of love, respect, and the desire to understand instead of critique.”

Meeting new people at a distance

“It can be tricky to make friends anywhere, and trickier in rural places, and even trickier during a pandemic,” said Blair Braverman in OutsideOnline.com. If you’re experiencing such isolation, try connecting with neighbors by seeking online forums or grabbing flyers from bulletin boards at the local grocery, bar, or community center. “Look for clubs, committees, and volunteer groups,” ideally those that focus on outdoor activities. You could pitch in at the farmer’s market, join a ski club, show up for trail-cleanup days, or help plan an annual festival. “Rural friendships tend to converge around what people like to do together, and that’s part of the beauty.” And don’t limit yourself to finding friends of the same age or background, especially if you’re pretty new to this whole adulthood thing.