If Oscar the Grouch had Zoom…

People of a certain age grew and who up watching Sesame Street will remember Oscar. He was a green muppet character famous because he lived in a trash can (to English readers – that is a round metal dustbin!)

He was a Grouch – apparently his species, and also a reference to the way in which he behaved and interacted with other characters in the show! He was grumpy, acerbic and could be quite rude.

Any child with an inquisitive mind watching Oscar must have wondered what it must be like to live in a trash can? What must the inside of Oscar’s home have been like?

These days, with many interactions taking place via screens it is frequently the case that we get an insight into people and their lives from the spaces they choose to broadcast from.

Yesterday I was on a Zoom call with around thirty participants, none of whom I had ‘met’ before.

Some of the participants used the built-in blur feature that enables you to blur out the background. Others used the backgrounds feature to give the impression that they were in some high-tech office setting or amongst palm trees on a tropical beach. But most just let the camera roll and broadcast their real world locations.

Now I’m not saying that you need to have a dedicated area for Zoom calls that is a perfectly manicured and curated space through which people can form a favourable impression of you and your sophisticated life. But if you have an iron and an ironing board then maybe hide them away? Piles of washing? Maybe move those from sight too – after all, the sight of your smalls may not be the best way to make a good impression over a screen! You could also think, “What do my bookshelves say about me?”, especially if they are just full of randomly thrown papers and magazines. Piles of papers in view seldom give the impression of an organised individual with an organised mind.

And if you are going to Zoom from a kitchen then perhaps think about clearing away yesterday’s dinner dishes before your call at 10am!

To sum up the wisdom here: Before broadcasting think, “What would Oscar do?”