It was during a Zoom consultancy session with a skincare specialist that I first noticed how horrifically wonky the teeth in the lower left front of my mouth are. I’d angled my laptop in a particular way so that my consultant might get the best view of my mush – higher than usual, in sunlight – I’d laughed at something she said, glanced at the screen as I did so and...
So much time spent video conferencing – attempting to focus on what others are saying, while being perpetually distracted by the digital replication of our own faces – is negatively impacting our relationship with our appearance. Deeply. ‘This is an awful thing to say,’ whispers one friend on a rare, precious audio call. ‘But I’m beginning to hate my face for the first time in my life. Like:My heart breaks for her, but: honestly? I’ve had moments of feeling like that, too.
Which is great for those businesses – but how good is it for our minds? What are the deeper implications of all this on our mental health? Not good, according to Dr Miriam Liss, a professor of psychology at the University of Connecticut, who specialises in body image. ‘In order to understand how video meetings may be affecting us, it is important to understand a psychological theory called “objectification theory”,’ she tells me.