helloooo tribe!

have you ever felt exhausted just at looking your face continuously on zoom or Google Meet? the pandemic brought with it several changes. what we might have used once or twice to chat with long distance friends or some occasional long distance work meeting, the pandemic elevated these video chat programs to a staple for conducting our daily meetings.

now these video chat programs solve the problem of communicating with everyone, these programs also show users a video of themselves. so, instead of us watching the mirror once every 6-7 hours, we were staring at our faces for hours on end. psychologists suggest that this continuous focus on one’s own appearance day in and day out could have been very harmful to mental health, especially for women.

research has shown that while women are constantly objectified in popular culture, women also tend to self-objectify, i.e., treat themselves as objects to be seen through that lens. it shows that taking pictures of oneself and feeling that you are constantly being evaluated increases the possibility of self-objectification in women.

even if the pandemic is getting better, the virtualization and digitization of our lives is going to stay with many jobs becoming permanently work from home. so, what can we do? well, for starters, you should know that looking at yourself all the time might lead to these issues. focus on the work instead of feeling dissatisfied with how you look. finally, if its still too much, turn off your camera during meetings to take a break from staring at yourself.