Turns out our teens were right all along…

Lockdown has been challenging – and how! – even for us lucky ones with a garden and everything we need around us. But there are always positives, and one of those is more people agreeing with us about the many benefits an online world has to offer our teens. It’s just not possible to be negative about something that has brought joy, companionship and laughter to so many people when they most needed it. So we say once again, thank you online world for enriching our lives.

So what have we watched/played/engaged with that has made us laugh and kept us thinking positively during lockdown? Here’s another random Equipp list of recommendations for you all:

Greg James is a real favourite – we love his Radio 1 breakfast show but also his social media accounts, which often feature his chocolate lab Barney. The recent GQ article on Greg (and Barney of course – “name a more iconic duo” ????) sums up just why we all tune in and follow:

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/greg-james-lockdown-diary

We’ve also loved TikTok and its stellar progress through lockdown – the dances, the disasters, the dogs (yes, more dogs; lockdown has us even more sure that dogs = happiness). It’s so hard to pick favourites but you have to look at this for major inspiration if you’re perfecting your family dance moves:

https://www.tiktok.com/@twitchtok7 

Who wouldn’t be obsessed with dogs with Bruno as a regular office visitor?

It’s been VERY interesting seeing the shift in attitudes towards gaming over lockdown. We get that it’s worrying if it takes over their lives but to hear our boys laughing so hard and chatting to their friends and generally connecting with the world makes us very, very happy. We loved this Twitter thread, which says it all:

https://twitter.com/snickerpants/status/1256755201207201792?s=20 

And life online so often leads to offline passions… The Last Dance is now on its second watch here (thank you, Netflix) and as well as leading to a few happy hours spent playing NBA 2K20, there has been a lot of bouncing, spinning and shooting outside in the garden over the last few weeks.

We’ve loved having the time to enjoy more family movie nights and picking in turn means that we’ve watched a real selection, from Thor (if we must ????) through Green Book and BlacKKKlansman to thowback classics like Lilo & Stitch and we’ve all found new favourites.

There’s so much more we could mention but we must talk about Zoom quiz nights. Once everyone got the hang of Zoom, quiz nights have been a way of keeping families, clubs, friendship groups together and have been a real highlight of the week. A Saturday night in to look forward to! Jack put together a particularly good one for us recently; if you’re short of time and inspiration just let us know, as he’d be happy to pass it on.

And lastly, who hasn’t loved keeping up with life on social media? We’ve never been so pleased to connect with friends and find out what’s going on out in the world. Everyone has their favourite accounts and posts, but we agree with everyone who thinks that @MrAndrewCotter on Twitter has been one of the best things about their lockdown, turning from commentating on sports to commentating on his dogs (yep, we’re back to dogs). And what can be cuter than @doggosdoingthings on Instagram – just watch this if you need convincing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAa9tWFBwNB/?igshid=14fsownxo6hjm?

Pure happy stuff ????????

What have you watched/spotted/joined in with that’s made you smile during lockdown? Please do leave a comment below and share the love!

Louise & Anna x