Search results
- To some experts in human behaviour and communication, the so-called “Zoom wave” emerged due to our need to recreate the social connections that the pandemic ruptured. For others, it’s a simple way to signal the meeting is over before digitally departing. Some wave just to be polite, others enjoy it.
www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/why-the-hell-do-you-still-wave-on-zoom-scientists-now-have-an-answer-20231027-p5efhqThe Zoom wave may be weird, but scientists say this is why ...
People also ask
What is a 'zoom wave'?
Why use a wave during a Zoom call?
Is the Zoom wave a positive gesture?
Why do we feel awkward while waving on Zoom?
Is using Zoom for communication a positive thing?
Is the zoom wave a psychological sweet spot?
Jul 20, 2023 · The Zoom wave is obviously an adaptation of the regular wave, which is a common way to call attention to yourself so someone can spot you from far away. You probably wouldn’t wave at...
- Overview
- If the Zoom wave is good, why does it feel so strange?
- Is the Zoom wave here to stay?
Cody Kennedy never plans on speaking extra loudly during videoconference calls. He never plans on leaning in so close to his computer camera that barely anything other than his forehead is visible to his colleagues. And he certainly never plans on ending virtual meetings with a wave goodbye that is so exaggerated, he cringes at the sight of his own video feed.
Yet all of these things happen on nearly every video meeting Kennedy is on — and he has no idea why.
“I have never felt the need to wave in person,” Kennedy, 36, the chief communications and marketing officer for the city of Olathe, Kansas, said. “What am I doing?”
Thrust into more videoconferences than ever due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have discovered a shared quirk from within the tiny squares of digital real estate in our new meeting format: the Zoom wave.
Significantly livelier than one in nearly any face-to-face setting, the wave at the conclusion of these remote meetings causes a range of reactions among those who do it, from embarrassment to enthusiasm.
Yet psychologists, body language experts and those who study digital communication all agree: Waving at the end of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other videoconference calls is a good thing — an indication that just because we have been socially distanced for the last 14 months does not mean we have become socially inept.
While the Zoom wave has become a standard signoff, it can still feel a little awkward.
The fact that we see ourselves on screen is a major contributor to this feeling, Wood said. So many people fixate on their own image throughout video meetings that she suggests covering up your square with a Post-It note.
“You otherwise spend most of the time looking at yourself and evaluating yourself,” she said, adding that women tend to evaluate themselves more critically.
The “almost childlike” nature of the wave also might make us feel a little ridiculous, Dhawan said.
“We relate it to signals and cues of a preschool,” she said.
The timing of the wave, too, can contribute to its awkwardness.
Experts speculate the Zoom wave could replace certain in-person interactions.
“I think you’re going to have a larger percentage of the population that just from now on won’t shake hands,” Wood said.
She said even before the pandemic, she had already seen some people who would not shake hands in a job interview and were afraid of germs, most of them belonging to what she dubs the “Purell generation” of individuals who were raised using hand sanitizer frequently.
For some people, all the Zoom goodbyes have already translated into real-life actions. Streeter is finding that the wave she does on video calls now happens face to face, too.
“I was talking to a friend and we were going different directions, and I waved really aggressively, and I sort of found myself thinking, 'Have I always done that?' Then I realized that it was the Zoom wave,” she said. “I feel like it’s somewhat, at the moment, replaced hugs.”
Shuffler, the psychologist, believes returning to in-person work and transitioning away from remote meeting tendencies will be an adjustment for everyone.
- Senior Writer
- 6 min
Oct 27, 2023 · To some experts in human behaviour and communication, the so-called “Zoom wave” emerged due to our need to recreate the social connections that the pandemic ruptured. For others, it’s a...
Oct 26, 2023 · To some experts in human behavior and communication, the so-called "Zoom wave" emerged due to our need to recreate the social connections that the pandemic ruptured. For others, it's a...
Aug 10, 2022 · Explaining the Goodbye Wave at the End of Video Meetings. We’re about one year into the COVID-19 pandemic forced era of Zoom meetings, and Microsoft Teams meetings. Whether attending meetings for work or for get-togethers with family and friends, we’re all doing more video conferencing than ever before. And I don’t know why it never ...
- Frank Graff
Oct 29, 2023 · To some experts in human behaviour and communication, the so-called “Zoom wave” emerged due to our need to recreate the social connections that the pandemic ruptured. For others, it’s a simple way to signal the meeting is over before digitally departing.
May 24, 2021 · Dubbed “the Zoom wave”, this habit of signing off on video calls with a little wave that has increased during the pandemic is one many on social media have commented on, wondering why they do...
