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Comment by boglurker | Hacker News Reader

I haven't turned my camera on in meetings for over 8 months, I don't think anyone really cares that much, and I find some people like it because they feel less pressure to keep their own cameras on as a result. That's been my experience at least, I'm sure some people have bosses that require it for whatever reason which might make that not an option for everyone.

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They care, they just don't want to pick a fight. They might judge you and believe the reason you're not on camera is because you're busy doing something else.

These are probably the same people who care if I leave the office on time instead of staying late every night. I don't care to please these people.

It's not. Why do you have to assign other bad qualities to people you disagree with? Just to make it easier on yourself to disagree?

Ironic, coming from the person who said that other people judge me when I don't have my camera on.

>> Why do you have to assign other bad qualities to people you disagree with?

Yes, inferring bad motives to other people is bad. We should try to be charitable.

>> They might judge you and believe the reason you're not on camera is because you're busy doing something else.

Sounds like these people ^^^ are the ones who need to hear that message.

It's fair game to assume though.

As if no one does the same on in-person meetings. Bringing their computers to the meeting, leaving them open and replying messages here and there.

If they believe that it's on their side, so the reason to keep my camera on is to "show" that I've been paying attention? I work with a bunch of people who leave their camera on and are completely inattentive for parts of meetings, doing something else while looking at the computer. How is that different?

> How is that different?

It's not, no one has said it is. Being inattentive is bad no matter how it's done.

Exactly, so it's not a remote, camera on-off issue, it's an attention issue that happens on any meeting. Stating that having the camera on helps with it is a non-argument to having a camera on, hence my point.

I think it's much more nuanced than you suggest.

My brother works in accounting and my father works in engineering. They rarely have their cameras on. I believe this stems from the fact that pre-COVID, they dealt with many things via telephone conference call. Everyone dialed in via a phone.

When the pandemic hit, they simply brought their phone conference tendencies over to Zoom. Nobody sees it as a problem because prior to COVID, video wouldn't have even been an option.

Based on a discussion here several months ago, it seems to vary by workplace. Some companies rarely use cameras, some use them all the time.

Very grateful I work for the former.

The ability to have someone instantly available, without requiring 100% of their attention, is useful. I have no problem with some people multitasking in meetings, and I don't judge people if they say "sorry, I wasn't paying attention, can you repeat that". I've learned to ask better questions that people can answer even if they weren't paying attention.

One thing I always found helpful with that is to lead with the person's name. So "Bob, do you have an opinion on this specific thing, in the context of this other thing?"

I totally understand drifting off in meetings especially virtual ones.

I'm regularly in meetings where people are on camera and where everyone has them off. It's clear the degree of people not following the discussion when the cameras are off is much more substantial.

And so, having made this observation, what steps have you taken to ensure that your meetings are purposeful and relevant to the people who are attending, so that they feel able to participate?

I rarely organize any of these meetings, so it's not my call. But people on those are usually relevant.

Maybe they're paying as much attention while on camera, but using the same fake signals they use to look like they're paying attention at in-person meetings.

I'm not talking about social signals, but people going like "sorry what, could you repeat the last point" when called out.

Strangely this is perfectly fine to do with my employer, but I have a weekly meeting with some external developers and they immediately comment on my avatar or that I'm missing, while they all have their cameras on.

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