Thursday Thoughts - Mute Button Challenged

Here we are, two years later, when all our meetings transitioned from taking place in person to taking place through an interface called Zoom.

It didn't take us too long to get used to, and I suspect get tired of, the Brady Bunch-type boxes that each meeting or gathering brought us.  We caught up with family and friends this way.  We conducted our jobs this way.  We met with church groups to plan what ministry could be done.

And though we still are signing in to Zoom and seeing the boxes and sharing video when we felt comfortable or playing with virtual backgrounds, I dare say we are all struggling with that mute button.

My mute button

Now, I will speak from personal experience.  Your mileage may vary.

I am still quite mute button challenged.  As evidenced last night at our Church Council meeting held regularly by Zoom (even when there was an in-person option), when I got SO EXCITED about announcing our next Church Council date (May 4th!  Star Wars Day!).  But, the problem was....I forgot to un-mute myself.

Sigh.

I will say part of this stems from me constantly muting myself.  When I would be on a Zoom meeting from home, undoubtedly my dog was somewhere nearby.  And she likes to join in my meetings.  Or bark at things outside.  Plus at home there is always some sort of side conversation going on.  So my default was to keep myself muted and only un-mute when I spoke.

But now, 2 years later, I still struggle with the remembering to take myself off of mute when I speak.  I am quite mute button challenged.

What is nice, though, is when this first would happen to me I would be so embarrassed!  Yes others around me would have forgotten to un-mute themselves.  And there were others who would forget to mute themselves so we would hear them talking to someone else or a strange sound in the background.  But I always felt so self-conscious about doing it.

Now, I just laugh.  Because it does not just happen to me.  And it has happened to everyone at some point in their life with Zoom.

Yes, I am mute button challenged sometimes.  But, I can laugh about it.  And apparently blog about it too.