Hanging Out: ‘The pandemic definitely made some of us feel a little bit rusty’

In today’s episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast we are discussing the joys and benefits of hanging out.

Whether it’s with your friends, strangers or acquaintances, there is a lot to be gained from the simple act of spending time together.

In her new book Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time, Sheila Liming highlights these benefits and reflects on her own experiences of hanging out, from parties, to conferences, to hanging out on reality TV.

While writing and researching the book, Liming began to notice what she calls a ‘hanging out crisis’, with people struggling to hang out and avoiding real life interactions.

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A symptom of the Covid lockdowns perhaps? “The pandemic definitely made some of us feel a little bit rusty,” she explains.

Within the book, there are also five helpful guidelines to encourage people to start hanging out again, which she goes through with podcast host Róisín Ingle.

“They all involve taking something,” she says. “Taking time is the most important one… set aside some time and make hanging out a priority.”

You can listen back to the full episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts.