The Hourglass 2021-22 Issue I

12 | backpage the hourglass | OCTober/NOVember 2021
eesha team ZOOM
EESHA SHARMA ‘23
LAUREN HALAK ‘23
Staff Writers
As we begin to transition from
Zoom to in-person meetings, we
can reflect on the benefits and
drawbacks of both formats. While Zoom
posed a host of technological challenges,
it also allowed people to be more flexible.
During a time of social isolation, virtual
meetings brought the world together.
Eesha and Lauren are back at it again
to debate a new topic: Zoom or in-person
meetings?
zoom
vs.
in-person
Lauren: Pro In-Person
While Zoom was a perfect tool during
the height of the pandemic, the pros of
in-person meetings outweigh those of
Zoom. To choose Zoom over face-to-face
meetings means choosing an inattentive
audience, connection issues, and more.
Working or learning through Zoom
threatens individual productivity and
motivation. In person, everyone is seen
as an individual; on Zoom, participants
are minimized to squares on a screen and
categorized together as one large grid
of faces or names, rather than various
independent workers.
Many users also tend to turn their
cameras off, leading to an even more
unequal meeting. Participants who turn
their cameras off feel as if the rest of
their colleagues should participate in the
meeting, while they can sit back and relax.
On the other hand, an in-person
setting allows teachers to look around and
identify productive students and distracted
students. There is more motivation to
engage because people are not seen as little
squares on a screen, but as real participants
and contributors in the meeting.
Additionally, unsupervised screens on
Zoom leave room for endless distraction,
whether it’s scrolling through social media,
completing unrelated work, or playing
video games. While it is impossible to
remove all distractions in actual classrooms
or conference rooms, it is harder to get
distracted in a more engaging, in-person
learning environment.
Eesha: Pro Zoom
Although there are a few instances
where in-person meetings may be more
beneficial, the majority of meetings can
and should be conducted over Zoom. Using
Zoom over the pandemic has introduced a
more convenient and comfortable way of
sharing information with others.
Zoom provides a way for large groups
of people from all over the world to meet
conveniently anytime and anywhere.
According to statistics from Nira.com, the
number of Zoom users spiked in 2020,
reaching an all-time high of 300 million
daily Zoom meeting participants.
In-person meetings do not provide
the same convenience for a high number
of participants due to the logistics of travel
and coordination. Meetings that take place
online can include large numbers of people
without the hassle of finding a venue or
transportation.
Especially for international
circumstances, Zoom is clearly the superior
choice. Zoom meetings are also easier to
plan because participants can just log onto
a computer instead of traveling to an inperson
location..
Participants all take up the same
amount of space on a screen, meaning that
they feel like they are on an equal playing
field. This contrasts with a meeting room,
where people who may be sitting towards
the back would feel uncomfortable
speaking up due to them not feeling as
“involved” in the meeting or feeling like
they do not belong. Zoom meetings help
relieve the awkwardness of participants
not being able to hear each other or feeling
out of place in a space that may not fit
everyone.
Be sure to check us out online at
www.hourglassnewspaper.com
follow us on instagram
@hourglassnewspaper
Design by Anna Wang ‘22 • Photography by Jessica Lamontagne ‘22
meetings?
Lauren and Eesha discuss which is
the better meeting format.
word
search
find a taylor swift
lyric and email it to
lhuang@baldwinschool.org
to win a prize.
While the popularity of zoom
meetings decline as we return to postpandemic
society, some begin to wonder
whether or not Zoom should be our “new
normal” after all.
team IN-PERSON LAUREN
Q
O
D
G
W
G
F
T
C
M
X
Y
O
R
G
E
I
A
G
U
o
f
t
p
h
n
s
c
n
u
t
z
q
b
z
u
e
r
i
y
g
s
l
e
a
j
v
u
e
j
t
h
e
l
m
z
g
e
b
e
w
u
l
n
x
a
z
l
t
q
j
y
f
t
o
y
n
h
o
s
h
j
f
n
a
h
e
s
p
v
c
r
x
c
g
s
h
v
u
k