Fifteen Distractions That Are, Or Should Be, Trending.

By Erica and Karen

The world is changing before our eyes. It is a stressful time, even for those of us not on the front lines. We need distractions so we don’t succumb to exhaustion and depression. Here are a few ideas.

Games. Some faves:.

• Pickleball. Everyone is playing. Including us. Tennis X ping pong X badminton. Fastest growing sport in America.

• Wordle. A truly fun word game with a truly fun story. Now owned by the New York Times.

• Canasta. It’s been around for a long time, but has undergone a recent surge in popularity.

• Video Games. The gaming industry has not only been uninterested in people likes, it has been downright hostile. But apparently quite a few of us are enjoying at least some gaming offerings. Try Tetris. Or, if you want to vault into the twenty first century, the AI version, Tetris Effect. (If you play this please report back!)

Puzzles. Here’s a list—they look hard

Shows. In due course brilliant movies will be made of the heroism of Ukrainians and their president. Until then, some almost completely random ideas:

• Leverage: Redemption. We loved the old Leverage series, about some entertaining bad guys doing good Realistic? Maybe not, but fun. We hope the new series is as good.

• Better Things. A mother and her children. Nothing is easy.

• Occupied. Seemed a little farfetched when it first aired, but now...

• Super Pumped. Uber’s founder. His rise and fall. Excellent.

Podcasts. There are many excellent podcasts. (We city dwellers don’t drive that much, as many listeners do, but we listen while we walk or cook or work out). Many are about the current world situation—we are partial to those of The Economist magazine. Among the others, here are a few favorites.

• The Lustre podcasts. Of course. They’re not that new, but all of a sudden they are trending. You’ll like them!

• The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. If you love elegant fiction you will enjoy these.

• This American Life. About a million stories, many of them fascinating.

• Freakanomics. Interesting and unexpected facts.

• Ear Hustle. Being incarcerated is very difficult, but this podcast is creative.

What distractions do you favor?