Yes, There Is Such A Thing As Zoom Shaming

And no, you don’t always have to be on video

I hate Zoom. There, I said it. Ok, maybe ‘hate’ is a strong word, but I’ve certainly grown to loathe it.

When I first started coaching in 2018, it was the bee's knees for consult calls. However, I always felt awkward using it. I was always worried about having to look camera-ready and make sure there was nothing weird in the background. I had to put my dogs up in their crates so they wouldn’t be walking around, panting, and barking at the person on the other side of the screen. Their crates are in my office so I had to angle my computer screen in a way that meant I had to be a veritable contortionist while trying to look professional and normal.

When COVID hit, and we were confined to our homes, and Zoom became the go-to platform for conducting business efficiently or interacting with friends and family. Sure, it was fun doing virtual Wine Wednesdays, Thirsty Thursdays, and playing virtual Cards Against Humanity, but when it was the only way people would (or could) do meetings or events, it became downright onerous.

According to Zoom, in May 2020, the platform was seeing 200 million daily meeting participants. The following month, this figure had risen to 300 million. This compares to 10 million participants in December 2019.