Ideas on how to have fun while practicing social distancing by taking on picture-making.

• Draw messages instead of typing.

Many smartphones already have an app that allows you to draw, and if not, you can easily get some from the appstore, free of charge. Then, get friends involved and communicate through images you make.

• Play around with creative software.

  Adobe’s creative cloud is now available free for students. And if it’ll look too complicated at first, your uni account works for lynda.com, where are hours worth of quality tutorials for all these SW.

If you don’t want to spend extra time watching a screen you can…

• Take unusual selfies.

Extending your arm while holding your cellphone is pretty dull, and everyone’s doing it. Instead, set up your phone (or camera) on a self-timer, and compose something more fun. By doing so, you practice camera handling, and it can be a workout, too.

You can challenge your mates to see who will come with the best one.

All of these can be done from home, and besides entertainment, they give you chances to learn new things. Whatever the result, you will use your imagination, which, in my book, is better than watching someone else’s ideas on Netflix.

Best, J.