I generally feel like I have high functioning social anxiety, which is to say I am social, and even at times enjoying speaking to larger groups of people but I still know that my social anxiety is waiting to rear its head. Something about the endless amount of work zoom calls that started during lockdown really unleashed it. I really struggle with the lack of social cues and feedback that you get through zooms. I also found myself always looking at my camera and focusing on how I looked and sounded too much. Sometimes the flatness of the interactions made me feel like I was sitting in a blank empty space which made it hard to focus on the things I was saying or needed to say. I would even sometimes let my mind drift to think about the weirdness of how I’m spending all day speaking to people through a weird plastic box on my desk.
Has anyone else felt this way? Any ideas of what to do? I know I should turn my camera off, but what else can help?