Zoom Face

I wanted to talk to you about a theme I am hearing over and over again in clinic and to compound the matter, I have also read about it in the press: ‘Zoom Face’ I have read recently that there has been a surge in plastic surgery requests and consultations purely based on this concept of people doing Zoom meetings. So it would seem that nobody on Zoom is looking at anyone else on Zoom. Everybody on Zoom is looking at their own face, which sort of defeats the object a little, doesn't it? Perhaps we'd be better off just going back to conference calling?! So you all sit there scrutinizing yourself and criticizing yourself and picking out all the kind of things that you don't like about yourself. This is not good on many levels. It’s not for your self esteem. Perhaps your focus is shifted from what you're actually meant to be concentrating on, which is the topic of the meeting with possible impact on concentration. All of these leading to potential negative impact on your performance.

Let’s consider - we take 49 selfies. Maybe one of those is semi-decent, maybe that one might even be filtered. This whole false fakeness that we present is not real. Then we go on Zoom and spend hours on, having meetings after meetings, after meetings. Probably quite laborious, boring, or stressful intense topics. Then you wonder why you don't know like Cindy Crawford or Richard Gere whilst you're doing all of this. It's just not going to happen! If you are feeling the fatigue of Zoom Face, I have a couple of really simple tips with this in mind.  

Presentation

Everybody's become a bit more laid back, about how they present themselves when they're working from home, which is absolutely fair enough. The flip side of that is if you are going to be spending time on Zoom on meetings then actually, doing your normal hair, doing your normal makeup, or even going a little bit further with it. Bear in mind that when you see people on TV and in they wear makeup that is heavier than normal, just think about how a lot of the male presenters on TV will have makeup on. Now don’t overdo it – you don’t want to be the Zoom Drag but it’s something to bear in mind. For guys, a bit of tinted moisturizer, if  you feel comfortable with it can just provide that extra glow on camera.  

Positioning

Try to get yourself more organized so you position things correctly. Again, think about your selfies that you take. You angle the camera so that you look up into it – why? It is a more flattering angle. Try to be conscious that you're sitting up straight, your shoulders are back, your neck's elongated, Again, visualise being in a room with those people and having a meeting with those people in real life. We're working from home. We're sitting in perhaps not ergonomically designed areas. Just being that extra bit conscious about posture will help reduce tension, aches & pains but also help with your aesthetics.