COVID-19 has changed a lot of things throughout the year. Almost everything people do in their everyday lives has been affected by the pandemic. From going to school, the store, the park, sports, etc. However, it also challenged the mental health of many people, forcing them to quarantine and avoid physical contact with others. Many were forced to find new hobbies to keep them busy and others turned to things that they did for fun as a way to stay connected with others.

Video games can generate a plethora of different opinions however for some high school students video games proved to be a way to stay connected with friends and even family. This is the case for juniors, Nikolas Lampman Thompson and Yael Aramburu. Both used video games as a way to pass time and stay connected to relevant people in their lives.

“I kept playing video games [during the pandemic] because of the fact that they distracted me from what was happening,” Lampman Thompson said. “Also it was another way I could keep in contact with friends and my sister who lives about 2 and a half hours away.”

Deciding to play video games with others is not just a random occurrence for Aramburu. He would arrange times to play video games with friends and stay up into the early morning. Something that he says helped him fend off the boredom.

“We always played at night,” Aramburu said. “My friend and I would play from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. everyday.”

Lampman Thompson and Aramburu did not only play video games, they also had time to focus on other hobbies they enjoyed. For example, Lampman Thompson would talk to friends on the phone, watch TV shows, movies, and he even played his guitar. He describes how important it is to prioritize your mental health during events when you are cut off from social interaction.

“I think it is very important to prioritize your mental health during quarantine because, let’s say you’re someone who was used to going out all the time, seeing your friends, or people all the time and that just suddenly stops,” Lampman Thompson said. “It can be really sad and frustrating at first, but what I did was make sure I kept in contact with my friends throughout quarantine.”

Aramburu said that getting through quarantine was very difficult for him. Aramburu did other things such as play basketball and  FaceTime his friends. He recommends others to go out but to be safe. 

“It is important to prioritize your mental health because getting through quarantine was very difficult,” Aramburu said. “You have to go out but also be safe about it.”