It's been an interesting and challenging year as many businesses have held meetings over apps like Zoom, classrooms of all education levels were held virtually.
After taking getting used to using Zoom, most of us have conditioned ourselves to check our surroundings before logging on.
While teachers and fellow students alike have seen potentially embarrassing things from inside a student's bedroom, not every aspect of a student's home life witnessed was a laughing matter.
Curious to hear of the experiences from strangers online, Redditor umbralion asked:
"Teachers with zoom classes, what's the most disturbing thing you've seen on a student's zoom?"
Teachers did not need to see the nudity in the background.
State Of Undress
"Not so much disturbing as much as a potentially gross situation: An uncle decided to undress on camera while his nephew was in class. I very quickly called for cameras off and heard the 12 year old kid say 'Uncle Dave, what the hell bro? I'm in class!'"
"It's mostly loud houses, a lot of swearing from parents, TVs blasting in the background, and the smoke alarms. THE SMOKE ALARMS!! The constant chirping drove me nuts."
The Roommate After A Shower
"I had to interrupt a student I was meeting with to let her know I could see her roommate, who was in a towel and about to start changing."
Naked Brother
"I am a teacher. We are supposed to require cameras remain on. At the beginning of all this nonsense I did. However its pretty obvious it makes some kids uncomfortable. One kid used to come to class without a shirt. Constantly. I told him he needed to wear one. Another time he changed his pants in front of the camera. Its been dealt with. Respectfully. Another kid (I teach high school) was doing his work and his adult brother walked in naked. Just sort of wandered around the room. Then he just stood there talking to his brother having no idea he was on camera. With 25 kids or more in the gallery it's difficult to hone in on one kid. When I noticed what was going on I just knocked him out of the meeting. I can mute but not shut off cameras. The guy wasn't doing anything nefarious. Just being a naked older brother. More common is hearing loud relatives arguing in the background. Just the intimacy of being in their homes with them freaks me out a bit. Even though we're remote. Also I can recognize most kids by their ceiling fans."
Grandma's Cameo And Inappropriate Language
"seen: Naked grandma slowly limping through the background. Fortunately since I was screen sharing I don't think anyone else noticed. Either that or these 10 year olds have the best poker face ever."
"heard: In the background at FULL volume; 'Well you tell that mother F'KER that the next time I see him I'm cutting his BALLS off!' I couldn't get the student muted in time. She sat there totally stoic about the whole thing (and her home life was already on our radar) but there was a second or two of silence and one kid just goes 'That wasn't school appropriate language at all'"
– ichigoli
Witnessing a glimpse of these students' home lives were sobering for these educators.
Lonely Kids
"Lots of arguing. Lots of lonely kids. Lots of kids taking care of younger siblings, all alone. Lots of kids who are in a different place every day."
– k1wyif
Loud Homes
"Nothing really disturbing, but very eye opening about how different lives can be. I'm continually surprised at how LOUD some of the houses are. TVs blaring, music on full volume, people screaming non stop, all while the student is sitting placidly (seemingly) paying attention to me."
– Zuzublue
Background Noise
"I taught first grade remotely all year at a high poverty school. Thankfully I'm going back in person in this fall. However it was very enlightening seeing each kids home life and all the obstacles they deal with on a daily basis and then seeing their awesome resilience. I've had dads walking around without their shirt, which is just funny, imo. It's insane the amount of terrible language parents use when kids turn their mics on. Like, really disturbing stuff. Had to call home on that one."
"One time, this kid couldn't hear anything I was saying and I couldn't hear him because parents were fighting in the background and it was really nasty. So, this sweet little guy, went to the bathroom, sat in the bathtub, and closed the curtain so he could keep learning. Love that kid."
Why Is Education Is Important
"Did one of my teaching practicums at a school in a low income side of town. Broke my heart how many students didn't have access to technology - luckily the school was able to help. But many of these kids also relied on the school for one or more meals in a day. Also, many of my students slept on mats either in their kitchens or what passed as a living room, often having to look after their many siblings while schooling."
"The pandemic really made apparent the lack of funding available for these kids, and why education - and schools - are so important. For many of those kids, school was the one reliable and safe place in their life."
Wasted Education
"I had a student sipping wine during a critique once and at one point was noticeably drunk. Things happen."
Why We Don't Cook During Civics Class
"Not disturbing but I did have a student almost burn down his house during one of my civics classes. A student was making eggs and a dish towel caught on fire. It was great to see who was actually paying attention because they were screaming FIRE. I gave extra credit to the kids who yelled and transitioned from the legislative branch to the basics of fire safety."
Zoom was a temporary solution for schools put on an indefinite pause.
And while students and teachers gradually begin resuming classes inside physical classrooms again, both parties are relived.
As educators were appreciative of the videoconferencing app, many would still prefer teaching the old school way – inside classrooms.
Not on a screen where they're likely to have images of naked grandmas burned into their retinas.
The Oath
sir i queue better from a distance yo waddup elessar GIFGiphy"I have sworn an oath of solitude until the pestilence is purged from the lands."
The Box
There's an XKCD for that: https://xkcd.com/2346/
"Haunted plague box" is the best description of a house.
Roll camera...
"I'd love to meet, but I don't want to risk it. Do you want to video chat though?"
Yes oh god. Last year I moved from FL to CA and everyone back in FL wants to come visit. Like id love for everyone to come out but it's just not safe. They ask every few months and it's always the same answer: let's wait until spring next year.
Truth
Truth Reaction GIF by moodmanGiphy"I don't want to meet because I'm scared of Corona." jibsand
Just be upfront yeah. Sometimes I'll indicate it's because I see older relatives often to take the burden off of me a bit.
ZOOM
"Hey, I really want to hang out but I'm worried about the Corona Virus." If they're really your friend they'll respect your opinion. Then maybe suggest doing something like a zoom conversation or online game.
My friends and I meet on Zoom every week now. Sometimes we all start the same movie at the same time, sometimes we play games. We were all learning how to cook a dish together a few weeks ago. There are tons of options to get people together without seeing them in person yet, OP.
never too careful
I work in healthcare. Be cautious. We have regular meetings and emails where our doctors keep us up to date. There's so much we still don't know.
I almost died earlier this year and was (maybe still am) immuno compromised. I've chosen to self isolate as much as possible.
I recently had a coworker acquaintance harrass me about visiting me. She knows my situation but continued to insist it was ok for her to visit. I've never invited her over for various reasons. It got so bad that I had to block her.
My elderly disabled mom tested positive for covid-19 a week later. We aren't sure who infected her and she's currently in isolation. You can never be too careful.
"Be in"
Got a whole friend group who care about each other and want to take the most precautions we can to protect each other. Then there's one guy who's been teaching summer classes for children for the last three months who's always the first to "Be in," and constantly flaunts protections to the point those of us who are taking this seriously can't hang out without excluding him or hurting his feelings.
For Mom
Mothers Day Love GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphyI've had to tell my friends several times that despite wanting desperately to hang out with them, that I'm still paranoid about the virus and I don't want to risk getting my mom sick, so I've been staying self isolated.
Looking Back
Learning to advocate for my/your own health was very tough, but the rewards are limitless with effort.
On the few times I've been rebuffed, the response I give is, "I'd rather look back on this and say I'm embarrassed about how I overreacted than wish I hadn't let myself get so sick." That's placated everyone I've used it on.
Cut Ties....
cardi b ok GIF by PepsiGiphyI have cut ties with one friend during the lockdown because of this. She didn't freak out but she got snarky after I turned down her request to meet in a park for a walk. Then she became very weirdly passive-aggressive. I had been having issues with her before the pandemic, and realized I just had no interest in dealing with her weird personality anymore.
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Training....
My friend was the admin on a zoom call. He switched my name to "big booty B." I then joined a work related zoom call, name was still "big booty B" had no idea how to change it so was "big booty B" for the duration of my summer job training that day. WhatIsRedditImConfus
Snuggle....
GiphyI was giving a presentation and my cat jumped up on my lap. He then immediately turned around to show everyone his butt (he wanted snuggles, but you know… that put the other end right into the camera). drownednotgod
Stench...
I set my hair on fire in a Zoom call with all my students present.
I have homework help sessions over Zoom, so I wasn't doing any actual instruction. I was looking out my window to see what my neighbor was doing; there was a lot of yelling going on. Then I realized I smelled something weird.... then I realized I had forgotten to blow out the candle on my windowsill.
Next thing I know I'm sheepishly minus a chunk of hair, and the kids are dying of laughter after figuring out why I shrieked. suboccasumsolis
'get another tug out'
I entered a class and didn't realize that my mic was on. 20 people heard me baby-talking to my cat and I got laughed at.
In one of my friends' lectures, a guy had his camera off but his mic on without realizing, and was talking about how he'd picked that major because it was easy, he didn't know anything, and what he did know he'd learned off TikTok.
In another friend's class, a guy was talking in that chat about how he'd been masturbating and had to 'get another tug out', thinking that he was texting to someone else. The whole university got an email from the Dean about proper conduct after that one. gingerginger27
The Deepest Cut...
GiphyMy sister has serious anger issues. It is to the point that she was playing Murder Mystery on Roblox and screaming bloody murder when she died. I did not know she was playing and in the middle of me discussing my book my sister screams at the top of her lungs" Oh my god he stabbed me!" It was a really awkward situation to explain. WonkierCracker6
The Jerk.
Oh, god. I don't know how to feel about this one.
So, my Spanish teacher has a horrible reputation. He's know for being inappropriate towards students, making fun of poor students, and being a jerk. Anyway, I was in class, muted- I thought, and my mom comes into my room and sees my screen, and we jump into a conversation about him.
I was saying how he "seems" nice, but here's all the bad things he did, and my mom was saying how she doesn't really trust him and how she wants me to know that it's never okay for a teacher to hit on a student, and I was like "I knoowwww mommmm". I come back to my screen and there is my class, sitting in silence, just hearing everything. lemon_bby
Oh Mochi....
Thankfully I'm careful about my mic but yesterday I was in a lesson with my math teacher and forgot I wasn't muted I called to my cat (mochi) and the exchange went as follows:
Me: mochiii. Moch moch! C'mere kitty! Proceeds to fall out of chair... damn that hurt
My teacher: holding back laughter did someone just fall out of their chair?
Me: yes that was me... I was trying to get my kitty immediately mutes my mic and sits there silently. Rocket-Tree
The Floof!
My cat walked into my room during my German class. I had forgotten to turn off my mic, and so everyone heard my "who's an adorable floof? You are! Yes, you are!" routine.
...my German prof reminded me it was a German class, and that I needed to baby talk my cat in German. So my cat got to hear that he was, in fact, "eine sehr nette Katze, die beste Katze in der Welt!" el_pobbster
I really like my legs!
GiphyI have my laptop hooked up to a monitor at my desk and I leave my laptop under my desk. I didn't realize my dad unplugged my webcam from my laptop to plug in the printer. When I turned my video on for my Poli Sci class everyone got a great view of my legs and fuzzy socks (not nsfw). Thankfully I really like my legs! Lizzybreath
STOP!!!!
My younger siblings were knocking on my window behind me and thinking I was muted I screamed "YO STOP THAT YOU LITTLE FOOLS!!" my entire class found it entertaining that a few minutes later I unmuted to calmly say "excuse me but I'll be right back" with the sound of loud arguing in the background and proceeded to mute and turn off my camera. my teachers want us to keep the cameras on to make sure we are in class and are really strict about it. the argument took me I kid you not the whole class period to detangle. ItSmEmArO
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