I& #39;ve been wanting to say more about why we should never force anyone to turn on their camera in a Zoom session, and also why constant Zooming can be tiring...

Difficulty with looking at oneself in a mirror is a very common symptom of trauma.

Zooming with the camera on is like having to stare at yourself in a mirror while also seeing everyone else stare at you.

It& #39;s like a mirror squared.

Lot of work on this in the trauma literature, but here& #39;s one piece if you& #39;d like to read more. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6008582/">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/artic...

So in short, please do not force anyone to be on camera. Not aligned with what we know about trauma-aware teaching. Not aligned with an equity mindset. Not good for basic stress either. Audio only works great.

One other reading rec for you is van der Kolk& #39;s The Body Keeps the Score. He writes about trauma survivors who are not able to recognize themselves in the mirror. While I& #39;ve not yet read anything about video confs and trauma, I think it& #39;s fair to extrapolate here...