Online classes are pretty new to most of us, and with each week, I think about how these classes are taking away our privacy. With online classes comes the action of turning on our webcams, which invites our peers and professors into our personal living space. Contrary to when we are in a classroom with our peers and professors, it doesn’t feel like we are being watched . But now, with online classes, I feel much more exposed when my camera is on.
Most professors won’t obligate you to turn on your camera during online lectures, but if you want to develop a connection with your classmates and professor, having them see your face is best. Your entire class will be able to see your whole background, the posters you have on your wall, your decoration, your furniture, etc. Some details can give away who you are at the risk of exposing you. For example, if your clothes rack is untidy, or your makeup vanity is a mess, people may believe you’re unorganized. However, details like these aren’t always noticeable. Still, if they are, they can reveal undesirable things about your private life that you inevitably share with the class when your webcam is on.
Essentially, I don’t want the whole class to see what my room looks like. I find it interesting to see my peer’s lives and get to know them through their background, even though it may not be representative of who they are. The down side to this is that noticing your peers’ backgrounds cannot be avoided when only a handful of students turn on their camera during a long lecture.
Consequently, it’s worse for professors who don’t have the option to keep their cameras off while lecturing. So, you get a glimpse into their living space every lecture too. As a student, I’ve always been curious about what my professors’ homes look like. Now that I get a glimpse of every class, it feels improper, as if a hidden secret has been discovered that I shouldn’t have unlocked.
Despite all this, the way universities have adapted to the pandemic with these online classes has been great. We never have to worry about if the person next to us has symptoms or if the last person who sat here secretly has the virus. Perhaps we have traded our privacy for our health.