With the cancellation of school, sports, and work, we are all basically forced to stay home and prevent going out as much for our safety and others. Time with friends is limited and people’s favorite places are closing. Of course, we still have the amazing world of technology to allow us to communicate with each other and stay in contact; but many would say that is still not enough. Actually being with friends and being around them physically will be immensely missed but is for the best. Although some people say “YOLO”, You Only Live Once, and just go out and hang with friends, that possibility is not the same for people with strict and worried parents. One amazing thing I found while scrolling through TikTok one night was the ability to watch a movie with friends without actually being with them. I was incredibly shocked and could not wait to try this out with my friends. Little did I know how difficult it would be to get it set up first, especially for someone not as techy as others, aka me. 

I tried out this amazing hack just a couple nights ago with a good friend of mine. Since I had never watched Space Jam, we decided to watch that first. The quality of the hack was incredible and allowed everyone watching to chat on the side during the movie just like having a regular conversation in real life. Because we thought texting during a movie was too much of a hassle, the next night, we decided to just call and talk during the movie so that way it would be easier to communicate without drawing attention away from the movie screen. The possibilities for this amazing tool are so mind blowing and endless. Instead of watching a movie, one could also watch a series with friends and talk about it while watching as well. I know many friends who watch the same series but are always at different points of the season than the other. This tool can help people watch together and stay on track with each other, rather than trying not to spoil it for the other. 

Not only could this be a helpful tool, but this could also form new friendships. Making new friends in real life is hard enough and could even be harder trying to make new friends by inviting them to watch a movie through an online screen. In addition to all that, if one had a long distance relationship, this could potentially be a great fix for their movie date nights. In all reality, we can all pretty much say that almost everyone is in a long distance relationship right now with friends, spouses, and family members because of the COVID-19 spread. So this could potentially be a quick fix in “interacting” with people without leaving your home or the safety of your bed. So if you really like the idea of this, go ahead and search up “Netflix Chrome Extension” and then download it, choose a movie, share the link, and enjoy! I promise this is not a waste of time.