Zoom — it’s the ultimate education tool responsible for the humiliation, frustration and demise of all who use it.
Although many can attest to the fact Zoom has its “occasional” flaws, no one can deny we’re all certainly learning a lot — mainly about ourselves and each other.
We’ve learned to face our insecurities — or at least, we’ve certainly gotten more comfortable demonstrating them.
If you’ve used Zoom at all this semester, it’s likely you’ve learned a series of unnecessary, yet somehow almost involuntary, gestures to cover up your deepest insecurities.
Maybe you’ve mastered the half-a-second hair flip, readjusting your hair every half a second which is particularly important when you’re styling your two-day old sweatpants or pajamas.
Or, perhaps you’ve mastered the long and dramatic nose scratch, where you make it overly obvious that your nose is itchy as to allure people away from any idea or notion that you’re picking your nose.
More importantly, Zoom provides what can only be described as a cinematic learning experience.
Various random cats can be seen hopping onto keyboards, making brief cameos in the backgrounds of many unsuspecting students and professors.
We’re also introduced to what is known as “the unsuspecting roommate who had no idea you were in class but, once aware, continues to sing and dance in the background of your Zoom screen anyway.”
The cinematic learning experience is only amplified by Zoom’s infamously notorious mute button — which never works when anyone needs it to.
The muffled sounds of business transactions, giggling siblings and even the occasional coffee maker — or what many would hope to be coffee makers — has filled the backgrounds of many SU lectures and demonstrations.
It’s a learning experience like no other.
Zoom is also an education tool which gives immediate insight as to who is really paying attention.
However, this statement is only truly prevalent during morning classes when one person yawns; those who are paying attention are suddenly yawning in unison about 10 seconds afterward.
Although some may believe the absence of video is due to a lack of attention, those who’ve used the feature know it’s used for so much more.
Blocking one’s video can cover up one’s messy room, or even the terror in one’s eyes as they race frantically across the house in search of a power cord.
Regardless of Zoom’s blips and quirks, or even that fact our teeth are sore from grinding
them in disdain, Zoom is an education tool we’ll never forget.
By OLIVIA BALLMANN
Editorial editor
Featured image by Michael Cotterino.