Let your work stress drift to sea with a tropical backdrop. Photo / Canva
Working from home is forcing us to all confront some harsh realities, such as the tragic state of your living room, or your little ones being absolute terrors right in the middle of your Zoom call with the bosses.
So we might as well have some fun with it by switching up our video conference backdrops.
One man tried to convince his workmates he lived in a luxury apartment.
Software engineer Andrew Eckel, who lives in Massachusetts, printed out a backdrop of an expensive-looking home and hung it up behind his head during his conference. He shared the story on social sharing platform Igmur.
"After I zoomed out and showed my co-workers the paper backdrop, they said they'd been quietly wondering how I could afford such a stylish place. Or just why I had two office chairs."
Eckle told Bored Panda: "A lot of people aren't really in the habit of making their beds every day, and I can't be the only person who didn't want to show a messy bedroom this week."
But you don't need to print out photos to pretend you're somewhere exotic on your Zoom conference. The platform has the option of adding a virtual background with a small selection of images and videos available in the app.
Design platform Canva has also jumped on the bandwagon to zhuzh up your video conference and has released a range of virtual backdrops.
"Social distancing isn't the end of socialising," an email from the company read. "With the help of technology, you can hang out virtually from anywhere, with anyone."
That means you can conduct your business during a spectacular Africa sunset:
Or maybe you'd prefer to be at the beach:
Some of us might want to imagine working in Egypt in front of the pyramids:
Or maybe you're already craving your local cafe scene:
Other platforms are also offering backdrops to make the home office more exotic. Home decor store West Elm has created a number of travel-themed images, sharing them all in a blog post.
"Whether you're a WFH pro or are just getting started, there's a major learning curve when it comes to video conference meetings. Can you see my screen? Am I on mute? Is that your husband in the background? And if you're into home design – Is that *really* what my house looks like on camera?" the article states.
Or, there's always a nod to the most famous working-dad in livestream history, Professor Robert Kelly, better known as "BBC Dad", with this man's option for a backdrop:
For all the parents who have to do their jobs from home with small kids running around in the background, I created this Zoom backdrop for your video conferences. Enjoy. https://t.co/i4x0ynqT2k pic.twitter.com/zjeqqC68XK
— Jason Farman (@farman) March 23, 2020
For those who prefer a nature setting, the US' National Forest Federation has images of parks, waterfalls and forests to brighten up the screen.
Spice up your next video call by changing your @zoom_us background to a National Forest! Here are some beautiful backdrops to get you started: #WorkingFromHome #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/B2WYZGlWmr
— National Forest Fdn. (@NationalForests) March 25, 2020
Whatever helps us forget we're stuck at home for a while, right?