171–180 of 284 posts
Also I recommend you forgive yourself/others for getting distracted. If you were getting coffee together, you'd frequently get distracted by the surroundings and ask the person to repeat themselves. It's not like you're in a therapy session where you have to pay deep, undivided, focused, uninterrupted attention on one person over an hour. That's really hard.
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Your anecdote doesn’t seem to convey that camera usage is not important, but it does show that it’s not necessary. It’s possible, I’d guess likely, that you’ve been able to get work done well in spite of no cameras. Of course, I doubt anyone would do an experiment to see if your statement is true or not. I just thought that your statement seemed so absolute but the evidence you present isn’t.
What I'm saying is the assumption that cameras are necessary is just that- an assumption, and basically just an opinion. Not fact or even something that people are backing with empirical evidence. We're not getting work done "in spite of" no cameras. We're getting work done, period, and don't have to deal with the fatigue of having a webcam on all the time.
But I disagree with you because I think they are important and useful.
Combining them into a single statement with an and is what makes the disagreement.
Perhaps you could get even more work done with cameras on when communicating with people.
Just feeling fatigue doesn’t seem like a reason to turn off cameras. I feel fatigue from working, yet I do it.
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Do you feel the same way in front of a camera pointing to your face as you do on a normal day-to-day interaction with non-verbal cues, room to use body language to express yourself, etc.? It's not about the visibility, it's the psychological impact it has, having a camera pointed directly at my face 100% of the time is very different than sitting in a room, reading others' faces, attention (where are they focusing th…
Well, I don't understand, as the parallel seems obvious; you're meeting with a group of people and you can see them and they can see you. If anything I feel freer with the camera, as others' visibility of me is much more limited than in person. I like cameras in meetings for exactly what you say, reading others' faces, attention, body language, non-verbal cues, etc. Without being able to see people I find it much har…
The parallel does not work, I don't think it's that hard to realise that a camera pointing at your face, showing how you look at any given moment to anyone that looks at you and you can't tell if they are looking at you or not is equivalent to an in-person setting where you are aware of your surroundings much more naturally.
I really don't know how to be more explicit than this about the major differences between in-person to a virtual meeting with cameras...
In my experience, meetings definitely feel more productive when at least the key participants have cameras on. So I would not advocate for a "camera off" culture. Instead, something that helps me and might help others - When I am not speaking, I keep my camera on, but I don't keep the camera view myself - i.e, I don't watch myself or others. Instead, I switch to the content being shared/presented, if any. This helps…
You do have written support to guide the meeting, right ? Won’t you all be looking at that document, eventually taking notes, and not looking at the speaker ?
Even when some people turn the camera on, I can’t imagine anyone in the meeting seeing more than their small tile in the corner while the main doc is front and center covering 90% of the window.
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No, I like offices, I'm a very outspoken and outgoing person, I enjoy social interactions. I don't like a camera pointing at my face . It's not that difficult to see that this is a very different experience than sharing an office. And I'm tired of repeating this.
I’m sure this doesn’t apply to you at all, but cynically, I just feel that when I hear these weird to me reasons that I can’t understand, I just assume the person hasn’t showered in a week. I had female coworker confide to me that she didn’t like turning her camera on because it takes 40 minutes to apply her makeup every day. So she only does it for important meetings, but otherwise leaves the camera off.
If you are working remotely, does it matter? Does it matter if someone hasn't showered in a week and doesn't want to show that on camera but is still a productive worker?
I really don't get this nosiness about people's lives when you aren't sharing a common physical space.
I enjoy sometimes being able to get out of bed a bit later, not having time to do a full morning ritual before work if I can get some 30-45 min more out of my sleep, why should I have to care about all of that to show my face to colleagues on camera? Why should you judge someone that doesn't want their camera on?
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As if no one does the same on in-person meetings. Bringing their computers to the meeting, leaving them open and replying messages here and there. If they believe that it's on their side, so the reason to keep my camera on is to "show" that I've been paying attention? I work with a bunch of people who leave their camera on and are completely inattentive for parts of meetings, doing something else while looking at the…
> How is that different? It's not, no one has said it is. Being inattentive is bad no matter how it's done.
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Rude? Have you considered the other side? I'm extremely fatigued by having the camera on, I feel surveilled and every movement I do in front of it is calculated by my unconscious mind. It takes a real toll on my productivity having to have the camera on for a string of meetings. I feel it's extremely rude to dismiss others' experiences with the damn camera on for a virtual meeting. What is up that you need someone el…
Do you feel this during in person meetings? Where you are constantly surveilled and every movement you make watched? You feel this way shopping in the grocery store? Where the cashier is constantly looking at you when speaking? Is your productivity lower because the other people in the store can see you?
This may not be an issue for you, but it makes some people uncomfortable. Add anxiety disorder and it's a fucking nightmare. I have no issue if I can see where people are looking.
To make a different point than all the camera naysayers so far: I I'd be WFH for two years during covid, and everyone had their cameras off, I'd go crazy. Not seeing a face for months, being stressed about the other party in a meeting not even paying attention, just speaking into a void etc.
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No, I like offices, I'm a very outspoken and outgoing person, I enjoy social interactions. I don't like a camera pointing at my face . It's not that difficult to see that this is a very different experience than sharing an office. And I'm tired of repeating this.
I’m sure this doesn’t apply to you at all, but cynically, I just feel that when I hear these weird to me reasons that I can’t understand, I just assume the person hasn’t showered in a week. I had female coworker confide to me that she didn’t like turning her camera on because it takes 40 minutes to apply her makeup every day. So she only does it for important meetings, but otherwise leaves the camera off.
So... if you don't understand someone else's reasons for doing something, you assume they aren't being honest with you?