I know exactly when it happened.
The year was 2017, and my family had come back from a once-in-a-lifetime Ireland vacation. I was sorting through our pictures and found one of me drinking a Guinness. Now, I’m not much of a drinker—you can usually count the number of alcoholic beverages I have in a year on one hand. But we were in Ireland, so sampling the local stout and getting photographic evidence seemed appropriate courses of action.
There I was, in an Irish pub, showing off my beverage (see above). But that couldn’t be me. The guy staring back at the camera was … older. I had spent years looking at my contemporaries on Facebook, smug in the knowledge that they had reached the aesthetic tipping point of middle age. Now, apparently, so had I. Cheers, indeed.
Which brings us to Botox.
Holli Hulett, co-founder of Boom Collaboration, recently reported a marked increase in Botox, lip fillers, and other minimally invasive cosmetic procedures since the pandemic. In the United States, for example, there has been a 41% jump in treatments.
[Editorial: Can NDI Become Ubiquitous?]
What has sparked such an interest in injecting one’s face with toxin—the same toxin that can cause botulism—to relax the muscles that cause wrinkles? Turns out it’s videoconferencing.
“People are definitely becoming more self-conscious and aware of how they appear,” Hulett explained. “Other than looking in a mirror, many hadn’t really paid too much attention to themselves and certainly not on camera before.”
Boom Collaboration’s research showed that about half of people worry about how they look on video, hence the “Zoom Boom” in solutions for fuller lips and fewer crow’s feet. The BBC reported on this phenomenon during the lockdowns in 2020—but three years later, the market is still growing for everything from wrinkle reduction to neck rejuvenations.
If anyone decides to conduct a study, I’m reasonably sure the SCN readership will be listed among the best-looking groups of modern media audiences. I mean, it might be close between us and the Guns & Ammo crowd, but are you going to pick a fight over who has the better chins with the guys carrying multiple shotguns?
All kidding aside, appearance matters. From company meetings to sales pitches, from coursework to tech support, videoconferencing is a reality in our professional lives. If you’d rather not go the Botox route, here’s a quick refresher on some less invasive ways to improve your next appearance on Microsoft Teams.
An easy adjustment is camera placement. The low-angle look from a built-in laptop camera doesn’t do anyone any favors. Invest in an external camera for your workspace and place it above your monitor for a more flattering angle (or at least get that laptop camera at eye level). Avoid placing your camera to the side—it looks better when you look into the camera instead of taking meetings in profile.
Then there’s your background. It may not be perfect, but virtual background technology can cover up a world of distractions. It only takes a couple of clicks to insert a branded background or blur your surroundings (nobody wants to see your unmade bed or dirty dishes).
Better angle, better background—two quick fixes that can make you look more professional on videoconferences, no surgery or beer goggles required.
