GIVING yourself a break from the news is essential for mental health, but reading a book or watching Netflix is too much like not looking at your phone. Try these:
Listen to a true crime podcast
The dark and twisted tale of a double murder-suicide, coupled with deception, high-level police corruption, and indecipherable smalltown accents is the perfect distraction from a pandemic. And you can only half-listen because you’ll be reading the Wikipedia about it on your phone.
Start a very petty argument
Connections with those around us bring comfort in hard times, but arguing about inconsequential shit lets you forget about absolutely everything. Start some shit on WhatsApp and you’ll be consumed by misdirected rage into the small hours.
Get into a boxset on your tiny phone screen
The auteurs who make quality television love it when people watch it on the smallest screen available while checking case numbers every three minutes. Immersing yourself in an imaginary world while remaining available for news push notifications gives respite while maintaining intimacy with your device.
Cook something impossible
Food is a festival for the senses, and cooking a complex recipe one-handed while absentmindedly keeping up to date with what Twitter is saying about Boris Johnson takes up vital headspace and also ruins a meal.
Call your parents
A surefire way to take your mind off the virus is to call your parents and have them talk at you about the virus which will awaken a deep desire in you to not talk or think about the virus so much ever again, until at least 10 minutes later.
