The hottest new thing in quarantine life is hosting a Netflix Party

While researching my list of fun games and activities you can do on Zoom or Google Hangouts or other video conferencing services while you’re stuck at home, I found out — via a friend’s invitation — that there was an easy way for us to watch Netflix together virtually as isolation and social distancing continues.

There’s a Chrome extension called Netflix Party you can install and use to share with your friends and family to watch shows on the popular streaming service.

The useful thing here is you can all watch the same thing at the same time without having to start the same show at the exact same moment, or have it streamed through those aforementioned video chats (although you COULD do this on video, it’s better to have a chat typed out than people interrupting the sound from what you’re watching).

So here’s what you can do (only if you have Chrome on a desktop/laptop AND only if everyone in your group has a Netflix account):

1. Install the extension.

2. Open what you want to watch and start it up.

3. There will be a red NP in your address bar. Hit it, “start party” and share the link with your friends. You can also select “only I have control,” which allows the host to pause, rewind or fast-forward.

4. Have your friends click on it. Then, chat n’ watch!

That’s it.