By Leah Katz ’21
With the new semester underway, there have been new requirements for remote learning at BHS. Most notably, all students must attend their morning classes virtually for the full 50 minutes, unlike last semester when they were able to just check in for attendance and then leave. Additionally, during those 50 minutes on Google Meets, students are required to have their cameras on, making them visible to the teacher and entire class. While at first this may appear to be the ideal way of recreating our long-lost “normal” school environment, it seems that the use of cameras has created a new level of stress and distraction in the already stressful environment of remote learning.
A recent survey of BHS students revealed that most keep their cameras on only because the teacher asked, or because of the new requirement. No one reported keeping their camera on all the time. So why does everyone prefer to have it off? And, more importantly, what is the mental health effect of constantly having cameras on? It was clear that the presence of the camera in remote classes has increased levels of stress and even paranoia among students. Overall, camera use and online school in general are major factors in increasing stress in students’ lives. Students claimed they can focus better with their cameras off, because it takes away that extra stress. One student explained they don’t have to “constantly worry about how I am presenting myself” when their camera is off. Many agreed they just don’t like how others can see them, and feel too self-conscious, or that they lack control when online.
Following the top concerns of focus and stress, a handful of students expressed they feel having cameras on was an invasion of privacy; one of the more interesting results of this survey. Before last March, students went to school to learn, and came home to relax and do homework for only a few hours. This separation between work and relaxation has since vanished. Most students’ workspaces are in their bedrooms, just a few feet away from where they sleep each night. Certainly this confined connection between safety and privacy, and learning and work, cannot be a healthy long-term routine. Having to take merely four steps each morning to get to online school doesn’t give students the mental or physical space needed to get into an active mindset and ready for learning.
On the other virtual hand, however, some students don’t mind having their cameras on. They claim to feel more involved in class and more likely to participate, but it still has changed their comfort and confidence. “I do feel more engaged and productive, but it comes with discomfort,” a student explains. “Although I don’t love having my camera on, I do think it’s reasonable to require us to have them on,” another agrees, “ as it makes most students more engaged.” These students also understand and sympathize with the struggle on the other side of the computer, claiming they often turn on their cameras because they feel bad for teachers talking to blank screens. One student sums up, “[having cameras on] makes me feel like we’re all in this together.”
In the end, all students have varying levels of comfort being on camera, and some would argue it’s unfair to make them sacrifice that comfort, regardless of attendance purposes. Students should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning, and have the support they need to slowly expand their comfort zone when they’re ready. Almost all students responded that if it weren’t a requirement, they would have their cameras on depending on how they felt that day, or in that specific class. In our current world full of so many uncertainties and necessary restrictions, it could be helpful to have one simple thing to control and take charge of. And perhaps, with time and encouragement, we might start to see those screens turn on not as a requirement, but rather a connection.
