Zoom 2020
In 2020, the word “zooming” has gained another meaning besides moving quickly. Now we Zoom (with a capital z) hours every day, multiple days a week. It has become so common for the average American student that it actually feels quite odd to physically go onto a campus. I have started to make my bed every morning before class and double check that any surface within the viewing range of my camera is clear of clothes or other stuff that reveals the fact that I am a human being. I have never been one to make my bed every morning, so this is new to me and definitely annoying at times, especially when I wake up late and have to rush to get ready for Zoom class but still have to take the time to make my room presentable. I think we all do this now for fear of judgement from the other people in these daily video calls.
To me, this entire semester of college has been a weird adventure in collective voyeurism. I know that sounds intense, but it’s true when you think about it. It used to be that school, work, and home were distinct spaces in which we controlled how much one bled into the other, and we often had the power to dictate who was welcome in our private spaces with us. Because of the pandemic, however, these barriers have disappeared. It’s very uncomfortable to have people “in” your personal space that normally wouldn’t be there: bosses, teachers, peers, and even healthcare professionals getting a glimpse at how/where you live. I’m in your room and you’re in mine. My ability to do work used to have no correlation with how clean my room was, but now that’s no longer the case. During an interview a potential employer can now also judge you on your living arrangements on top of the regular factors involved in the hiring process (which brings up major red flags surrounding biases regarding class, living stability and work ethic but that’s for another discussion).
In the age of technology, people are already pretty self-centered. We all believe ourselves to be the “main character” in this sitcom we call life, so we constantly hyper-analyze what we’re doing and how we look. Our camera rolls are filled with selfies and our social medias are testaments to this belief that everyone cares as much about what we’re doing as we do (which of course is just not the case). This weird ego we all already have is now being amplified in Zoom and other video communication softwares which offer a self view screen. Since we care so much about what we present to the world, we end up just staring at ourselves, making sure we are presenting the best version of ourselves that we can. I need to make sure that my room still looks clean, that I don’t hold my head in such a way that I have a double chin, or that my cat isn’t sitting on my bed grossly licking herself in front of my entire class.
The idea of having even more invasive virtual lives with 3D perspectives of our environments is honestly kind of sickening to me. In the sense of educational spaces, this is a great idea. When being forced to teach elementary kids virtually about the solar system, it would be cool for a teacher to be able to present a more immersive class from inside an actual planetarium. But to think that my peers and coworkers could someday be invited to see every nook and cranny of my room or house for no good reason besides “the advancement of technology” is terrifying. What an exhausting way to live, always having to be on display like we’re all animals in a zoo, just watching one another.
Source: What’s the Deal with the “Self-View” on Zoom Calls? by Rachel del Valle for AIGA Eye on Design