Whether you’re moving to college fairly close to home or 1,000 miles away, this new environment may feel like a huge distance between you and your family. However, there are still viable options to keep in touch despite your new, busy life. Here are some ways to keep in touch with family far away.
1. Utilize the weekends
Between classes, studying, socializing with your peers, and adjusting to your newfound freedom, weekdays are bound to be a bit hectic. This means the weekends are your goldmine for free time to give your family undivided attention. Sure, you’ll want to explore your college town or spend the day with your new friends, but your mom will appreciate even a ten minute call or FaceTime. Especially if this is your first year away from home, your parents want to make sure that you’re safe and happy. Use a Saturday or Sunday to chat with your family and brief them on all the exciting things you are up to!
2. Set up a group chat
During the rush of studying, student organizations, and other commitments, you may not have time to make a call. The solution: make a family group chat! When you have a couple minutes to spare, sending a message to the group chat can make all the difference. As if your family needed to be more interesting, come up with a clever group name like “Modern Family” to make the chat all the more exciting! By having a group chat, you can hold an ongoing conversation on your time.
You should also consider a group chat that integrates a video call feature. Snapchat has a feature that allows up to 16 people to be on a video call at once. Similarly, the new iOS update on iPhones allows you to FaceTime up to 32 people! That means you can keep in touch with your parents, siblings, and maybe even your grandparents all at once!
3. Keep your social media updated
Not only will posting on Facebook and Insta keep your immediate family updated on your life, but also your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Staying in touch can be overwhelming when there are so many people you care about. But commenting on a photo, liking a status, or tagging someone in a meme will let loved ones know you are thinking about them. Though these gestures are small, they can carry a lot of weight.
4. Check out private sharing apps
If social media isn’t your thing or you just want to keep things private, then you should look into private sharing apps. For example, Cluster allows you to create a private group where you can share photos, videos, and text posts. Each separate group has its own gallery for photos with albums for different collections. Construct a group that only includes your family and choose to share these moments with them. By using a private sharing app, your trusted family can read, see, and hear about your life away from home.
5. Plan a weekend at home
At the end of the day, nothing beats spending face-to-face time with the people you care about the most. Especially if your home is 1,000 miles away, your parents will be ecstatic for you to plan a weekend at home. Holidays are the perfect opportunity to spend quality time with your fam and eat that homemade meal you’ve been craving. While it’s important to remember that you’re temporarily back under your parents’ roof, a weekend spent with your loved ones can leave you refreshed and ready to continue excelling in all your college endeavors.
Being far away from family can be difficult, but a little bit of effort can keep your relationships strong and current. If you find yourself struggling with homesickness, here are some ways to cope. Remember that your family misses you just as much as you miss them, and you will find ways to shrink that distance.