Thought of the Day - November 2 - The Zoom Effect

Zoom meetings have become the new norm when it comes to keeping up with your colleagues. Indeed I wrote about working from home earlier this month. One of the pieces of advice was to make sure you look and sound your best ( Thought of the Day - October 8 - Is Working From Home Working For You ), but . . .

Something that has now become a trend with the Zoomed office is a surge in people who are seeking cosmetic procedures as a result of seeing themselves on camera at least once a day.

Yes, this is what is referred to as a “Zoom Effect”, where people are taking care of the pesky things that bother them: their double chins, wrinkles, grey hair and eye bags which become a problem whenever they connect with their co-workers from a virtual point of view. 

In general people by-and-large are not risk-takers, especially during times like these, but they clearly see visits for cosmetic treatments as essential for their mental well-being. This is not entirely caused by the fact that people are displaying their own faces, they are also looking at other people’s faces while having conferences on Zoom. This is exacerbated by the final realization that the use of virtual meetings is not just a short-term necessity.

The next driver is the same as buying expensive "toys", people are looking to treasure every day of life and to be sure to do the things that are important in life because they are not sure how many more days or years they have left to live. While our physical possessions come and go, our face and body stay with us.

In addition, there another more simple explanation for the recent boom in people seeking cosmetic procedures - consumerism. Many forms of discretionary spending are currently severely limited due to the pandemic. People generally cannot spend money on travel, they hesitate to purchase retail such as clothing and have little reason to buy expensive clothes when there is nowhere to go. Even our dining options are severely limited. This all leaves people who do continue to have income, with limited outlets for spending, thus they are now increasingly indulging in the "Zoom Effect".

More worrying, expert suggest that for every patient that does sign up for interventions there are many more who would love to have treatment now but are simply too scared because of the pandemic. Dang.

Cheers

Cliff