Google’s ‘Free Things You Can Do In Lockdown

Trying Google’s ‘Free Things You Can Do During Lockdown’

Written by Jack Kerry Designed by Stephanie Sekula

As you most likely know, the world is in a state of crisis: schools have closed down, we’re all stuck indoors and we’re only really supposed to go outside for shopping. Our current circumstances have put major restrictions on having fun and I’d be lying if I told you I hadn’t been feeling very bored as of late. But I’ve decided that although we can’t have fun in many conventional ways, that shouldn’t mean that entertainment has to be put on hold altogether, so I thought up something that might help brighten up your day, or at the very least kill some time.

I decided to try some of Google’s most recommended ways to keep busy during lockdown and review my experiences to give you some ideas of new things to try out when there’s nothing much else to do. I must admit that these aren’t technically Google’s ways to keep entertained, rather they’re from a blog called ‘FutureLearn – 50 Free Things You Can Do During Lockdown’, which was simply the first result. There were others such as ’21 productive things you can do during lockdown’ and ’24 things to buy on Amazon during lockdown’ but I decided that this was the best one since not only was it completely free, but it’s all about having fun. Of course, I’m not going to be reviewing all 50 of these activities, instead I picked five that I thought were the most unique and gave them a try. Now, without further ado, here are my experiences of some of Google’s best lockdown activities. The first thing I tried was a fitness routine, and although the blog suggested it be a ‘fitness challenge’, I thought that strained muscles would be the last thing I needed, so I opted for this instead. I decided to do an equipment-free work out every day in the afternoon for six days a week, spending one day resting so as not to pull any muscles. I did it in my bedroom, and although there isn’t much space in there, I found that I didn’t need very much. I got used to doing it quite quickly and it actually made me feel a lot better after a long day of online classes. I went at my own pace and it was really helpful in relieving me of any stress and worries I had about things. I found it useful to listen to music while I was exercising as it helped to me feel more motivated and allowed me to focus completely on what I was doing since it blocked out any background noise. Overall I thought it was very effective in keeping me busy and far more useful than I had ever anticipated. It made my body feel better after sitting at a desk and writing all day, and helped to forget about any problems that I had for a brief period. Although I’d set a fixed routine, I often found myself stopping when I was satisfied or when I felt like I’d done enough, I didn’t restrict myself to the routine I had set. The only issue I ran into during this activity was the heat. One week it suddenly got really hot and exercising became far more strenuous. Opening a window helped but it still wasn’t enough. I found it useful to have a cold shower afterwards to cool down making it easier to relax afterwards. If you’re thinking of trying this yourself, I’d suggest that you make a routine that you feel comfortable

with and don’t try to do too much. Also, don’t be afraid to break the routine, only do as much as you feel like doing and it will make you feel a whole lot better.

Birdwatching

The next activity I tried was birdwatching, and from the outset I was expecting it to be quite boring, but I tried it anyway. I live on the third floor of a block of flats and don’t have a balcony so I just pulled up a chair next to an open window and looked outside. During my first attempt, not long after I’d started, a wet mop began sweeping across the glass and blocking my view. It turns out that I’d chosen to birdwatch the day that the cleaners scrub the windows, so I decided to give up and try again tomorrow. The next day, my birdwatching was much more successful. I saw about seven swallows, three magpies, a pigeon and a seagull who was probably the most exciting thing I witnessed. They weren’t anything I hadn’t seen before, but then I was

birdwatching from my flat. When I saw a bird, I got excited for a few minutes and then went back to being bored again so it wasn’t a very successful activity in terms of having fun. It did give me a chance to think and clear my head, but that was about all it did for me. It made me think that maybe birdwatching isn’t actually about watching birds, but taking a step back from everyday life and thinking about some of the more simple yet beautiful aspects of the world. The way the birds flew was quite fascinating and watching it was at least a little bit entertaining. Overall, I’d say that birdwatching was slightly more interesting than I’d expected, but not the most fun I’ve ever had. I’d recommend it if you’re a big fan of birds (although there might not be a great variety where you live) or need to clear your head of some things that have been bothering you. However, just because I didn’t think it was very fun, it doesn’t mean that you won’t so at the very least it’s worth a try. Just make sure to do it on a day the windows aren’t being cleaned.

House Party

Next was the House Party app, an application I’d never heard of before lockdown, that you play with your family and friends. The app is basically a way to contact people you know and play games with them to pass the time, like a video call and a quiz show combined. When I tried it, I did so with some family members and I have to say that it was quite fun. A lot of the quizzes were on subjects that I had close to no knowledge on whatsoever such as Netflix, teenage slang and Stranger Things but it was quite enjoyable to laugh with everyone at my (seemingly obvious) wrong answers. There were a few quizzes on things that I did know about so I wasn’t completely hopeless. However, my favourite game to play on House Party was the Pictionary game. It consisted of one person drawing a randomly generated word and everyone else trying to guess it. The aim of the game was to see how many we could guess in two minutes, but the thing I liked most about it was everyone’s terrible drawings and the panic that ensued trying to guess what they were before time ran out. It was surprisingly fun and it made me laugh quite

a lot. It was also a really good way to reconnect with family members who live elsewhere without going to see them in person. It was nice seeing people who I hadn’t spoken with in what feels like a long while. Overall, it was a very fun experience and it made me forget all about being stuck inside for a few hours. The app was quite handy and would even notify me when people on my friends list were online so that we could play together. Although some of the quiz questions do get a little repetitive, I found that it was more about having fun with the people in your life who you may not get to see so much at the moment than actually winning. I’d recommend this to anyone who’s missing their friends and wants to have fun with them.

Meditating

Meditating was something I had always thought to try but never got around to. I knew that it was about clearing your thoughts and focusing on breathing, but what I didn’t know was the best way to go about doing it and so I decided to watch a video explaining how best to meditate. The man in the video read off some tips from a book called ‘Mindfulness in Plain English’, saying that the optimal place to meditate is on the floor with your legs crossed, back straight, eyes closed, hands resting on top of each other and feet resting on top of each other as it’s supposed to keep you wide awake and allows you to sit comfortably for long periods of time. He also said that a beginner should only meditate for five minutes whereas someone with more experience should meditate for ten to twenty minutes. I didn’t like being called a beginner (even though I was one) and decided to meditate for ten minutes on the floor in my bedroom. Once I started I tried focusing on my breathing but almost immediately I started to feel a really annoying itch inside my ear. Trying not to scratch it was very difficult, but eventually, after what seemed like forever, it went away. I didn’t scratch it which was something I was quite proud of. After that I began to focus on my breathing again, and every time I found myself thinking of something, I let the thought go and returned my focus to it. I think that I did quite well for a first attempt, although I may not have got the sitting position exactly right because after a

while I got pins and needles in my legs. Still, I managed to sit without opening my eyes for the whole ten minutes. It was quite relaxing and made it easy to forget about my circumstances. It wasn’t the most fun thing to do but it made up for it with how it made me feel. If nothing else it was a good way to spend ten minutes that I would have otherwise spent doing nothing. There were times when I felt like I’d been sitting there forever and got a little bored, but the more I meditated throughout the weeks, the quicker the time seemed to pass. Overall, I’d definitely recommend this to anyone feeling stressed who has some free time. It really helps with clearing your mind and I even found that it helped me to sleep better after not doing much all day. I thought that it would be more complicated, but it was actually very simple and easy to start doing effectively for someone who had never even tried it before.

Tour of the Louvre

The last activity I tried was going on a tour through the Louvre in Paris. When I initially saw this on the blog I thought it would be impossible until I realised that it meant a virtual tour. The first thing that I tried was going onto the Louvre website and taking a virtual tour there, but all I found were some images of paintings and statues inside the gallery accompanied by boxes of text describing their beauty as well as informing of each piece’s history and background. It was quite educational but it wasn’t really what I was looking for. I wanted to feel as though I was walking around the gallery myself, as if I was really there. I searched some more and eventually found a YouTube video that was essentially a first person perspective of the Louvre. There were people walking around as if it were open and free to roam, and although I knew it was simply someone with a camera walking around looking at the art, it did a much better job of making me feel as if I was

actually there, while in reality I was still sitting at home. It sounded like I was there too, because all I could here was people talking and it got a bit repetitive after a while. Looking at the art was quite a fun experience, but that too got quite repetitive as all of the large hallways started to look the same. It didn’t help that the video was almost an hour long. There were also instances where people would stand in the way of art that I was trying to look at, and although it’s something that would likely happen if I was really there, I didn’t want it to be that realistic. I had to take a few breaks in between because I got a little bored, and without an audio guide I didn’t really understand what I was looking at a lot of the time. Still, it was quite interesting to tour somewhere I had never been before without actually having to go there, and it wasn’t the only place I could have toured either as there were a few videos in other places like Ancient Rome. Overall, although the realism was quite impressive, it wasn’t a consistently fun experience. It could be that I simply didn’t pick a very interesting place to tour, but after a while I got tired of it and wanted to do something else. I’d recommend this to anyone who is interested in history or culture as there are a lot of interesting historical places to visit on these tours, or if you simply want to simulate the feeling of being outside again.

After trying these activities I can honestly say that all of them were worthwhile in different ways. Although I was looking for fun, many of them were more thought provoking while others were very relaxing. I found it to be a great way to distract myself from boredom and calm down after a long day filled with college work and not much else. I found that each of them had benefits in some shape or form, and even the ones that I didn’t enjoy as much helped me to kill some time that I otherwise would have spent doing absolutely nothing, so in that way they were all worth something. Hopefully I’ve given you some good ideas in terms of distracting yourself from reality and even having a bit of fun. It’s really important that we stay indoors right now since it’s helping people all over the country. It may be difficult, but it’s important to be mindful of others and do our best to help them in these hard times. That being said, it’s also important that we look after ourselves, and taking your mind off of things by enjoying yourself is the best way to do that. If you ever find yourself with nothing to do, try one of these activities and you might be surprised by how much fun you have.