While I generally appreciate silence more so than most, I've noticed a kind of unhealthy silence in certain work situations over the last 18 months. While I've

While I generally appreciate silence more so than most, I've noticed a kind of unhealthy silence in certain work situations over the last 18 months. While I've mostly enjoyed the pandemic-induced remote meetings via Teams/Zoom, et al, one thing that's annoyed me is people's unwillingness - when they don't turn on their cameras, which is 95% of the time in my org - to compensate for the fact that no one can see anyone else. So someone will ask a question like "Does anyone have any questions?" In pre-pandemic days the questioner could scan the faces of those in the room and see people shaking their head "no". In virtual meetings with cameras off that's not possible. To me, that's awkward, and not in the good way that Uma's character in Pulp Fiction means[0]. Are people even paying attention? Did they hear me? Are they checking their email or otherwise multi-tasking? So I've begun responding verbally to such questions and to otherwise fill the void that's left when no one wants to turn on a camera. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnVX-uv-QPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnVX-uv-QPc