Our company has a norm to use video on calls, and I hate it so much. For starters, our team is all international and they don't seem to know the difference between a norm and a rule/requirement. So when I Slack people a question and they call in video chat, and their face fills my screen, I find it stressful and unnecessary. And then there is the expectation that I put on video to match them, otherwise I imagine I look either lazy (working in bed) or otherwise unprofessional or not upholding the norm. In long meetings I will take a "video break" to go stretch while I listen. This is the other problem...I want to move around or walk around the room, not sit statically.
I found one way to minimize my distress over this is to hide "self-view" in Zoom, because if I have to see myself on camera, 50% of my attention is on why my hair looks so bad, or why my room looks so dim or dungeon-esque.
Since there is a company norm to use video I don't know if it's worth bringing this up to my manager, except to vent, but I'm curious if others feel the same way. Honestly, I don't _want_ to see people's faces if we're doing code review or Excel spreadsheet review; I find it to be a huge distraction. I'm not even on the ASD spectrum, but in writing this it probably seems that way.
I found one way to minimize my distress over this is to hide "self-view" in Zoom, because if I have to see myself on camera, 50% of my attention is on why my hair looks so bad, or why my room looks so dim or dungeon-esque.
Since there is a company norm to use video I don't know if it's worth bringing this up to my manager, except to vent, but I'm curious if others feel the same way. Honestly, I don't _want_ to see people's faces if we're doing code review or Excel spreadsheet review; I find it to be a huge distraction. I'm not even on the ASD spectrum, but in writing this it probably seems that way.