Blog Post #6

Since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, so many of us have been getting used to working remotely, utilizing various tools that allow us to communicate online. Even students in non-online curriculum were opting for learning online (and only show up in person for lab sessions, for example). One of my relatives, who is a male in his 50s, has recently been asked to download a chat app for work by his employer. The app is widely used by young people, and he was laughing he never ever expected he would use that type of app. Once he gets used to the app, he finds it more convenient than a regular email — with the app, he can join meetings, send messages, and exchange images of high quality instantly using a camera.

So, we have often been using online meeting tools, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams nowadays. Basically, I think having a casual business meeting over Zoom is a good idea — we can avoid unnecessary commuting, which can save significant amount of time, can get rid of some psychological stress of employees, and also save money (e.g. the use of meeting rooms, extra utilities fees, and so on).

At the same time, I read some downsides of online meetings, especially, when those meetings involve people who have just met. Being unable to fully feel non-verbal cues, eye contacts may be too close (in a human’s vision) and too intrusive on screen. Besides, we may excessively rely on the voice tone of the person to get a feel for the atmosphere of the meeting. All those awkward situations may perplex someone who gets used to (and prefers) meet-ups in person and face-to-face communication. So, establishing genuine rapport may be difficult for some people if the communications are strictly online-based.

Personally, I like virtual meetings; however, I thought I would need to be more careful in how I communicate in those meet-ups.

Reference: “The Disadvantages of Online Meetings” by Ellis Davidson