It’s ok to turn your camera off.

March 4, 2021
Reading Time: < 1 minute
Home 9 The Intro 9 It’s ok to turn your camera off.

Hello, our Zoom-fatigued, emotionally exhausted, been-working-for-a-year-straight-through-a-pandemic friends. How is everyone doing?

As we approach the one-year anniversary of full-time work-from-home life for our team, we want to give each of you a gift:

It’s ok to turn your camera off.

Listen. We’ve been at this a long time. And while seeing your colleagues’ faces on a screen has its benefits, it can be incredibly draining. (It’s science! Stanford researchers just published a study that concludes that “videoconferencing technologies are exhausting.”)

Person on a zoom conference call

And while we can’t avoid every Zoom gathering or cancel all of our meetings, we can (and should) give our brains, and ourselves, a break. Turn off the camera. Or try this old school thing called a phone call.

Put in headphones, stand up, and walk around. If you’re brainstorming, try doing a monotonous task like washing dishes or wiping down counters while you chat. In our experience, it has the same brain-loosening power as doodling—but you end up with a clean kitchen. Or simply close your eyes while you think.

You get to prioritize your energy and mental health.

And you don’t need to be staring at someone to have an effective meeting.

Allison Kooser

Allison is Chief Storyteller at Swell+Good, where she partners with amazing organizations to help them bring their stories to life. She is an avid traveler, an expert takeout orderer, and a big believer in curiosity and kindness. She tries to learn something new every day, and she reads, writes, and paddleboards more than the average human.
+good Newsletter

If you haven’t already, check out what we’re reading this week in the +Good Newsletter.

Read more about: Communication, Culture, teams
We hope you enjoy this blog post.

If you want our team to just do your marketing for you, click here.

More reading we think you’d like

New year, same you.

I am a sucker for that new year energy.  Goals, dreams, resolutions, vision boards, reflection questions, brainstorming meetings...give me all of them. I am ready for bold intentions and BIG plans—and I've got the new calendars and planners to prove it. ...

read more

How we work better

Hello friends! Are you ready for some well-deserved rest? Regardless of how or what you celebrate, we hope this weekend is full of peace, joy, great people, good books/movies/music, cozy blankets, muted notifications, yummy snacks, and extra-long naps.  ...

read more

Is Giving Tuesday dead?

On the very first Giving Tuesday in 2012, our team went all out. We didn't quite know what we are doing, but we created a command center, borrowed staff from across the organization, and camped out on every single social media platform looking for conversations to...

read more