(NewsUSA) - September marks the beginning of a new school year, and for many students, it also marks the first time they will live away from home. College students are packing up, heading to campuses in other cities and states, and beginning new chapters of their lives. For the friends they leave behind, that can mean suddenly being hundreds of miles—and sometimes a time zone—apart.

Distance can make maintaining close friendships more difficult. But technology is giving friends new ways to stay connected, and communication platforms built for gaming such as Discord are increasingly becoming digital spaces where friends can continue to spend time together, talk and socialize even when they can no longer meet in person.

“When I had to move to college in another county, I didn't have proper communication channels set up for when I wanted to talk to my friends back home,” said Zen Dailo from Bakersfield, California. “Discord helps me stay in touch with some of my closest friends from home that I probably wouldn't have kept in touch with.”

Discord Gives Friends a Place to Hang Out

For many users, Discord is more than a messaging app for gaming. It can function as a virtual gathering place where friends can talk, share experiences and spend time together whether or not they are playing a game.

More than 90 million people use Discord every day to text, talk and video chat before, during and after playing games. The platform is free to join and is designed around conversations in smaller communities rather than algorithm-driven feeds or viral content.

That difference can make online interaction feel more personal. Friends can use voice chat, video calls and high-quality streaming across devices, creating an experience that can feel less like sending messages and more like hanging out in the same room.

For college students who have suddenly moved away from their hometowns, that kind of always-available social space can make maintaining friendships easier.

Why Gaming Can Strengthen Friendships

Gaming is also helping friends stay connected because it gives them something active to do together rather than simply exchanging messages.

Research published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships examined how friendships develop and found that the amount of time people spend together is not the only factor. The type of interaction matters as well. Shared activities, including playing games together, were found to be meaningful predictors of friendship.

The popularity of gaming also means that friends do not have to live in the same place to participate in the same activity. The Entertainment Software Association reports that 67 percent of Americans ages 5 to 90 play video games for at least an hour each week, while 49 percent say games help them stay connected with friends and family.

That makes gaming different from many traditional social activities. Going to a movie, joining a local sports league or meeting for dinner generally requires people to be in the same location. Online gaming allows friends to participate together even when they are separated by hundreds or thousands of miles.

The result is an activity that can turn a simple online conversation into shared time.

Keeping an Entire Friend Group Connected

Maintaining one friendship across distance can be difficult. Keeping an entire friend group together can be even harder.

Schedules change after high school. Some friends leave for college, others start working, and people may move to different cities or states. Over time, coordinating a group gathering can become increasingly difficult.

Discord is designed for both individual conversations and larger communities. Friends can create Group Direct Messages or establish private Servers—invite-based spaces organized around a friend group, game or shared interest.

These communities give friends a place to return to even when their schedules do not line up perfectly. Users can see which friends are online, join an ongoing conversation or start a gaming session without having to organize a formal gathering every time.

For Logan Iacobo of Pomona, California, Discord has helped preserve a large friend group that might otherwise have become harder to maintain.

“Once I was out of high school, I accumulated a very large friend group, so it was hard to always talk to everyone,” he said. “Discord has enabled us to stay connected. When I moved across the country, I could still talk to everyone, and we’ve stayed close to this day – it’s been a real blessing.”

How to Use Discord to Stay Connected With Friends

Getting started with Discord is relatively simple. The platform is available for mobile devices, consoles and desktop computers, and an account can be created in just a few minutes.

Friends can start a one-on-one Direct Message or Group Direct Message with people they already know. They can also create a private Server specifically for their friend group or join an existing community based on a favorite game or shared interest.

Joining a Server can be as simple as clicking an invitation link from a friend. Users can also browse Discord's directory to discover communities based on games, hobbies and other interests.

For friends separated by college, work or a move to another part of the country, these features can make it easier to maintain a regular connection without requiring everyone to be available at the same time.

Distance Doesn't Have to Mean Disconnection

Moving away from home can change friendships, but it does not necessarily have to end them. Gaming gives friends a shared activity, while Discord provides a persistent place where they can talk, stream, play and spend time together.

For college students starting a new chapter, staying connected may be as simple as logging on and finding familiar friends waiting in the same digital space.

Today, distance doesn't have to mean disconnection. With Discord, the hangout can always be with you.

(NewsUSA) - Religion is many things to many people, but it should never be a justification for hate and violence, and a little-known but impactful non-profit organization is hard at work to fight against the misrepresentation of religious beliefs.

The Pave the Way Foundation (www.ptwf.org), a non-profit organization not affiliated with any religion, works to confront the distortion of religious beliefs with the truth, based on documented texts. “Across the world, extremists twist sacred texts, falsify history, and weaponize faith for power, money, and control,” according to PTWF’s leaders, whose slogan “Embrace the Similarities and Savor the Differences” says it all.

PTWF analyzes core religious texts to identify the core principles and show how they contradict many examples of violence and hate and have been mistranslated to justify malevolent behavior and actions.

Some of these examples include:

-Documented covenants of protection for Christians and Jews issued by the Prophet Muhammad; this has been denied or ignored by some Muslims.

-Documented proof against false scholarship attacking the actions of the Vatican during World War II. Distorted information paints Pope Pius XII as “Hitler’s Pope,” but in truth he was a hero whose actions saved countless lives.

-Rebuttal of inaccurate information about governments seizing churches, closing seminaries, and persecuting pastors.

-Denouncing the persistent targeting of religious minorities across continents.-Countering false propaganda designed to divide Christians and Jews.

PTWF builds trust between faiths and shares the truth, while engaging in philanthropic activities across all faiths. Significant PTWF activities including the gift of the Bodmer Papyrus, the most important manuscript in Christianity, to the Vatican Library, then arranging the first loan in history of Maimonides manuscripts from the Vatican Library to the Israel Museum, publishing primary sourced WWII documents and eyewitness testimony to exonerate the Vatican from perceived inaction during WWII, and spotlighting the inappropriate use of the Keffiyeh (Palestinian scarves) and Palestinian flags in university and international protests worldwide in the days after the invasion of Israel in October 2023.

Other key activities undertaken by the PTWF include supplying baby food & medications to Syrian Christians being sheltered and rescued in Israel from persecution, interceding to end illegal seizure of Catholic bank accounts in Israeli cities by uninformed mayors, and helping the Vatican serve the poor.

“Most people don’t know our name, but our historic work is reshaping interfaith truth worldwide,” according to the PTWF leadership.

Religion shapes hearts, but malevolent manipulators can shape religion. PTWF exists to stop them, but the organization needs your help. Visit www.ptwf.org to learn more.