Creating a map for far away friends and family: for mental health and wellbeing

We will be creating a map reminding us of our faraway friends and family! Sometimes, it can be difficult for families to stay connected. I know I have family far away and I think of them a lot. It’s not always easy to call or speak with them because of the time differences too. Heshmat, Y., & Neustaedter, C. (2021) studied family and friend communication over distance during the pandemic. Their paper (https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3461778.3462022) shows the results of design lessons for these times of extreme disconnection.

I realized that I have my family’s time zones that correspond to where they are and what the weather is like on my mobile phone. In a way, it makes me feel closer to them to imagine what the weather or conditions are like for them. Do you have a similar way to form some of these small connections with friends or family that are far away? We will be creating...