Originally published at: Turning off your camera during Zoom calls is actually good for the environment | Boing Boing
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Turning off your camera during Zoom calls is actually good for the environment
Is this where I lodge my many complaints with Zoom, and what a shit show it is to have video meetings with human beings? Cuz if this is where we do that, I’m about a year plus worth of core dump.
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It’s good for everyone else too - no one wants to see your ugly mug.
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Speak for yourself.
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Wait until we get back in the office! Those bastards have forgotten how I smell. They will beg me to go back to Zoom-only… BEG!
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Oh sweet jesus, not this crap again.
Hey, exhaling during Zoom meetings increases CO2 emissions! If you really love the environment, you’ll hold your breath for the entire hour.
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I read through the source article to try and figure out how are they making those numbers and stopped after realizing that they are pulling them out of the air (or other places), because the equipment needed to transmit that data is generally running regardless of traffic levels for the most part.
SHOW ME THE DATA YOU USED TO GENERATE THIS CONCLUSION.
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Yeah, that’s cool Sister.
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I’m blessed - my laptop got neutered because of our no-cameras policy (US gubm’t security stuff). No microphone either.
It’s awesome. I can just be “MJ in a grey circle”.
If I need to I can call in and then be “*****73”.
WFH rules!
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No, this is one case where we shouldn’t question the source and should just perpetuate this information until my boss internalizes it. Shhhh.
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While we try to not use Zoom, we do use our on-prem Skype for Business (and Teams) for meetings, and the cameras are… optional, and hardly anyone uses them.
We could also just cut the number of meetings by, like, 2/3. It is way too easy and convenient to schedule virtual meetings, and the result is that my meeting load has gone way up during the pandemic. I try to turn down as many as I can now.
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THIS! 100% THIS!
Right as COVID started the project I’m on took a turn towards more meetings due to how it’s being managed. This created a perfect storm of horrible in terms of constantly being on calls. Mercifully video has been off for most of it due to network constraints (not using Zoom, secure-ish environment) but that’s not enough.
My group has made turning down meeting requests something of an art form. Too many people seem to believe if they have a question, then they have to have a meeting. This is patently false. Put your question in an email, then we will answer it and you will have it in writing to refer to later. Basically, we don’t have meetings unless we decide one is necessary.
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I mute my mic and turn off my camera to improve the audio and video. Most of my meeting are with international colleagues with limited bandwidth. Limiting useless data has a noticeable impact on the quality of the video and audio of the presenter.
Domestic meetings see less noticeable improvement, but it still helps.
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This study was widely circulated in my company when it came out in January. Several folks argued that the energy used (and thus the carbon footprint) are much lower than what the study used for its estimates. Also, to a lesser degree, it ignores the savings from the carbon footprint of the alternatives to video conferences and streaming entertainment.
I don’t have actual data to build my own model, but I found the naysayers’ arguments persuasive enough to move me from the streaming-video-is-bad camp to I-don’t-know.
Yeah, despite all of the comments I see everywhere about how awful it is to have video calls with no video, I prefer it. First, the laptop I have for teleworking doesn’t even have a camera, so, unless I plug in my usb camera (which is always missing cuz the kids use it for their music lessons), I can’t show video anyway.
And second, I don’t believe I have had a meeting yet, with Zoom or Teams, where the audio and video were synced up, so I find video calls very distracting. I often minimize the window and just listen. Sharing screens can be useful, but I really don’t care about seeing other people when I talk to them.
geez, that sounds awful, doesn’t it?
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That’s like saying “using some technology uses more energy than using less technology”. Of course it does. And it’s in fact good to be mindful of that.
But really the ‘point’ here only makes sense if you compare it to, you know, travelling to an actual meeting. Maybe ordering lunch for the group.
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