Days of Zoom
I have practiced WFH (Working From Home) for decades now, and so did my co-workers in our cozy group at this large IT company. It became second nature to us and I was surprised to gradually realize that WFH was not as widely spread and accepted as I thought - not even among IT companies. So when COVID hit and everyone who could started to WFH, I felt ... right at home, and ahead of the times! All of a sudden video conferencing became common place and many formerly office-bound people realized how much more productive they can get. Many, but not all!
One IT professional whose work involved in-person meetings, sometimes in different cities where she would have to fly, found video-conferencing a huge productivity booster, also resulting in a substantial payback in personal time. But someone struggling with the technology may have a harder time reaping the benefits, at least in the beginning. And while video-conferencing and other digitized forms of work eliminate the time and aggravation related to physically going somewhere, some professionals find they lose the decompression and bit of exercise commuting provided, and as such feel more stressed. Others find only now that working in your pajamas is not good for mood and profesional posture.
I confess I have not been a video conferencing enthusiast but I grudgingly had to use Zoom at work, as some off-site managers started using it to communicate with staff. Well, faces came out kind of gloomy as apparently no coaching on expression, angles and lighting was given. Not to mention dressing up, fixing one's hair and removing dogs, cats, hens and kids from the background! Also, having to face a dozen faces at the same time and angle, proved distracting or even disturbing. Options such as choice background and photos to replace live video were not available or not used. I soon realized that Zoom meetings were creating issues with self-awareness in a way in-person ones do not. When you are in a large in-person meeting, you frontally face just the speaker, can see a few people on the side and the rest is as faceless to you as you are to them; you have your bubble. On Zoom you have to learn to create and manage it.
And that's just from a rather subjective perspective. Once in the world of video-conferencing, one has to learn how to select and use the various tools on the market, think about privacy, security, copyright and intellectual property issues - to name a few that have already emerged. New business models are emerging and the validity of old ones needs to be reconsidered.
Digitization of activities - professional or household related - while providing undeniable benefits, comes with many challenging aspects. The fact that so much can be (and these COVID days can only be) done on line, with so many platforms and tools to chose from, makes us spend more time glued to laptop or mobile screens. There is already talk of Zoom-fatigue. Since everyone is encouraged or compelled to post, read and do stuff on-line can quickly become overwhelming. Tough, very tough discipline is needed to stay afloat and stay healthy. The same tools that give us salvation during these COVID days can also do us serious damage. But I believe the "days of Zoom" will continue past COVID and we'll all become more able to tilt the balance on the benefits side.
2020 Apr 29 Last upd: 2020 May 20
https://pixabay.com/photos/conference-room-table-office-768441/
One IT professional whose work involved in-person meetings, sometimes in different cities where she would have to fly, found video-conferencing a huge productivity booster, also resulting in a substantial payback in personal time. But someone struggling with the technology may have a harder time reaping the benefits, at least in the beginning. And while video-conferencing and other digitized forms of work eliminate the time and aggravation related to physically going somewhere, some professionals find they lose the decompression and bit of exercise commuting provided, and as such feel more stressed. Others find only now that working in your pajamas is not good for mood and profesional posture.
I confess I have not been a video conferencing enthusiast but I grudgingly had to use Zoom at work, as some off-site managers started using it to communicate with staff. Well, faces came out kind of gloomy as apparently no coaching on expression, angles and lighting was given. Not to mention dressing up, fixing one's hair and removing dogs, cats, hens and kids from the background! Also, having to face a dozen faces at the same time and angle, proved distracting or even disturbing. Options such as choice background and photos to replace live video were not available or not used. I soon realized that Zoom meetings were creating issues with self-awareness in a way in-person ones do not. When you are in a large in-person meeting, you frontally face just the speaker, can see a few people on the side and the rest is as faceless to you as you are to them; you have your bubble. On Zoom you have to learn to create and manage it.
And that's just from a rather subjective perspective. Once in the world of video-conferencing, one has to learn how to select and use the various tools on the market, think about privacy, security, copyright and intellectual property issues - to name a few that have already emerged. New business models are emerging and the validity of old ones needs to be reconsidered.
Digitization of activities - professional or household related - while providing undeniable benefits, comes with many challenging aspects. The fact that so much can be (and these COVID days can only be) done on line, with so many platforms and tools to chose from, makes us spend more time glued to laptop or mobile screens. There is already talk of Zoom-fatigue. Since everyone is encouraged or compelled to post, read and do stuff on-line can quickly become overwhelming. Tough, very tough discipline is needed to stay afloat and stay healthy. The same tools that give us salvation during these COVID days can also do us serious damage. But I believe the "days of Zoom" will continue past COVID and we'll all become more able to tilt the balance on the benefits side.
2020 Apr 29 Last upd: 2020 May 20
https://pixabay.com/photos/conference-room-table-office-768441/
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