Ode to the Mute Button

I pry open my laptop with an exhale. It’s time for another meeting. I feel like a businesswoman, sans the credentials. This pandemic has forced the world to create a new world on the Internet. And the star of that show is Zoom.

Zoom just happens to be the place where this meeting will happen. It is also the place where every webinar, class and even sleepover happens now. Imagine how much money the company must be earning.

With a click of my mouse, I enter the virtual meeting room. My microphone wakes up. It can pick up any sound, from minute whispers to emphatic shouts. If I yawn, everyone will realize how sleepy I am. If I eat, everyone will think I lack manners. My mother hollers from downstairs, reminding me to fold the laundry. Whoops- the mic caught that. Now everyone will think my mother’s a loudmouth. I accidentally drop my pencil box. It falls with a clamorous bang. Now the reticence of the meeting is gone.

Thankfully, I have a trusty little steed beside me. An asset in the form of a little button on the bottom-left corner of my screen.

The mute button.

That handy button can mask any sound: Construction sites, wailing babies, shattering glass.

With a satisfying “click”, I mute myself. I’m now in my own little shell. I can now sit back and eat that popcorn; respond to my mother’s calls; drop my pencil box.

Cover credits: Allie on Unsplash