How to: Deal With Zoom Disasters

As technologically well-versed college students, you would think we’ve figured out how to use Zoom by now. But it seems like the summer has made us all forget about the technical issues that can arise when our cameras and microphones are on. If any of these Zoom disasters have happened to you, or you’re nervous that they might, here’s our advice on how to deal with them. Damage control has never been easier!

The speaking while you’re muted

This one’s a little embarrassing but not the worst. Maybe you had a really great question in lecture and now no one will hear you flex because you were muted the whole time. No big deal. Hopefully a friend in your class will point this out so you can fix it. Or maybe you’ll just realize when everyone’s ignoring you. Shake it off. Just unmute yourself and try again!

The speaking while you’re NOT muted but meant to be

Okay, this one’s a little more embarrassing and a LOT worse. Here’s to hoping you were only talking to your mom and NOT complaining about your professor and their *incredibly exciting* lecture. And here’s to hoping that Zoom didn’t do you dirty by switching the screen to you while you were speaking. If this is you, check with a friend on the call to see what they heard on the receiving end. And if you think you may have offended someone, just apologize!

The Zoom chat

The Zoom chat is a disaster just waiting to happen. Picture this: you’re telling your friend about your horrible morning, confessing you didn’t do the reading for lecture, or complaining about the annoying kid in your section. Except you’re not just telling your friend — you send it to everyone on the call. Yikes! As embarrassing as this is in the moment, we can assure you that it isn’t so bad. As other messages in the chat come in, everyone will forget about yours!

The Zoom chat, part two

Here’s another scenario. Just like the last one, this also starts with you still spilling your deepest sins to your friend. Except this time, instead of chatting the whole class, you message the wrong person. So yes, it’s a little unsettling to know that a stranger knows all your tea, but hey, think about it like this: worst case, you’ve creeped them out a bit, but best case, you’ve made a new friend!

The video fiasco

Listen to us carefully: if you don’t wear pants to class, don’t leave your video on. The easiest way to prevent video camera disasters is to make sure you don’t do things you wouldn’t do in public while you’re on zoom. This includes but is not limited to: nose-picking, not being fully clothed, and using your camera as a makeup mirror. There’s two ways to solve this problem. Either keep your camera off, or just pay attention for the full lecture.

If you’re still worried about future Zoom disasters or a little scarred from one that happened a few weeks ago, we’ll leave you with this: while we hope this advice will keep you from making Zoom mistakes a habit, accidents are inevitable. If one of these things does happen to you, your friends, classmates, and professors will forgive you. And when Zoom classes become a thing of the past, your Zoom disaster will be too!