Zoom Escaper: How to fake technical issues…and get away with it
Now here’s a sneaky way out if you’re dreading the start of yet another mind-numbing Zoom meeting. It’s called Zoom Escaper.
Zoom Escaper, a new tool created by artist Sam Lavigne, allows you to sabotage your own meetings with perfectly timed interruptions like audio problems, a bad connection, a loud bathroom break and more.
HOW ZOOM ESCAPER WORKS
In March 2020, South Africans experienced their first lockdown which led to working, attending school and studying from home. Zoom has been a great mediator tool to allow communication between people when working remotely. However, several tedious meetings a day can push one to the brink.
Zoom Escaper is a free web widget that allows you to self-sabotage your own meetings. This is done by adding various sound effects that vary from an echo, a bad connection, a man weeping, an upset baby, wind, dogs and construction noises… even a urinating sound.
And Zoom Escaper can be used on any application that requires you to use your microphone.
‘URINATING’ SOUND COULD BE USEFUL… OR NOT?
The Verge news editor Chaim Gartenberg rated the crying baby sound effect to be the most realistic and believable reason to drop a Zoom call — after you convince people you have a baby, that is.
He also mentioned that the “bad connection” sound effect worked very well, so that could be a close second for anyone without a baby.
The jury’s out, however, on how useful or effective the urinating sound effect could be.
WHY ARTIST SAM LAVIGNE CREATED ZOOM ESCAPER
Sam Lavigne said he created this nifty web widget as an escape tool that “helps you escape Zoom meetings and other video conferencing scenarios. It allows you to self-sabotage your audio stream, making your presence unbearable to others”, he wrote on Instagram.
Lavigne is honest about his motivations for creating the app — he hopes to see people doing less work.
“My hope with Zoom Escaper is that people use it to escape Zoom calls and do less work. I’ve been thinking about how sabotage might work in a digital context, especially one where the means of production are also personal devices that mediate your social life,” Lavigne told The Guardian.
WATCH: HOW TO USE ZOOM ESCAPER
A THREAD ON HOW TO USE ESCAPER
AND NOW THE ‘SEQUEL’: ZOOM DELETER
Sam Lavigne is quite possibly more fed up with virtual meetings than anyone else out there. He also created Zoom Deleter, which he explains as a small application that immediately deletes the Zoom app when found on your device. Zoom Escaper is actually the “sequel” to Zoom Deleter.
“Zoom Deleter is a small application that continually monitors your computer for the presence of Zoom, and if found, immediately deletes it,” he wrote on Instagram.
The two applications are a form of art for Lavigne. He created them for the purpose of “deliberate slowdown; reducing productivity and output; self-sabotage”, he told The Verge.
This app ultimately has two objectives — annoy everyone in the meeting until they beg you to leave or use the available sound effects as the perfect excuse to make your escape.
ALSO READ: Paywall anyone? Twitter ponders subscription service