A feature that will change your next Zoom meeting

Photo: nortonrsx/Getty Images

💻 Today’s tip: It’s much easier to stay focused on your Zoom calls if you use the “hide myself” option.

With all that’s going on in the world, paying attention all the way through a Zoom meeting would be hard enough without your own face peering back at you. As Allie Volpe writes in our sister publication Elemental, seeing yourself onscreen presents an uncomfortable bind: We’re drawn to our own reflections, but we’re also stressed by the constant self-judgment that comes from staring at them.

So instead of spending the whole time fighting the urge to check yourself out, remove the temptation. Use Zoom’s “hide myself” setting, or cover up your face with a sticky note, and then banish any self-consciousness from your mind: “Remember,” Volpe writes, “that the only person hyper-focused on your video feed is you.”

📚 More from Forge on better virtual meetings:

Zoom Makes Manterrupting Incredibly Obvious
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I Promise I’m Paying Attention — I Just Have Resting Bored Face
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Unmute Your Mic For Better Conversations
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