Kids driving you crazy as you hunker down to more self-isolation and social distancing? Here are some tech tools that can make family life in isolation easier and chase away those coronavirus blues!

Distant socialising

Chill with family and friends using tools like FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts and Whatsapp video – it will seem like you are together even while apart. Try out virtual gatherings with friends and family to celebrate birthdays, book clubs, interest groups, or even to attend religious services and fitness classes. Sharing jokes and funny videos through group message chats like WhatsApp can help keep everyone’s morale up.

Worried about seniors who are alone at home? Video conferencing tools allow you to check in on them. If they are unwell, try out virtual doctor visits, where you can consult a doctor through a video call or message-based chat. After the consultation and diagnosis, the medicine and Medical Certificate can be sent to the home.

You could even hang out digitally, cook meals and have dinner together, virtually toast your cups or glasses, or let Grandma chuckle at Ah Boy’s antics, whether he’s sweating over some math sums, dancing to an online PE lesson or gobbling his lunch.

Maybe grand-uncle is a board game fanatic. Tap the many games available online and challenge him to a remote game of chess or scrabble. You could even set up a league table to track scores over multiple games!

Run errands online

You may be hunkering down at home, but it doesn't mean you need to feel deprived. Shopping at home is easier than ever as just about anything can be delivered to homes, including your coveted supplies of disinfectants, face masks, groceries and that super sedap nasi padang.

But if you must make that trip to a mall for essentials or to a park for exercise, check out Space Out, which colour codes shopping malls according to current crowd levels, and suss out crowd levels at parks with Safe Distance @ Parks.

Tour the world from your couch

Feeling confined during quarantine? Physical distancing does not equate boring. Settle down, sip that ice lemon tea and see famous exhibits with some virtual museum tours. And of course, video-streaming services can bring the magic of movies and documentaries right into your home.

If music or performances are more your cup of tea, many famous performers, dancers, singers, pop stars and musicians are holding virtual concerts and streaming performances online.

Put a smile on your face with live webcams that capture frolicking lambs, lounging hippos or majestic lions through the live webcams trained on African wildlife, farm and zoo animals.

Finally, if settling down to a good book is more your thing, access the ebooks and audio books from the National Library Board, or Librivox for audiobooks that are in the public domain, which you can listen to perk up that workout or household chores like sweeping and dusting.