Online Video Classes Give Professor Unwanted Insight into His Students’ Lives

​With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, universities in the United States have switched to online classes, a policy that has required students to be much more creative in their excuses for not attending their now virtual classes. Unfortunately, this adapted version of higher education has been disconcerting to professors who have been forced to become aware of some aspects of the personal lives of their students. In addition to seeing troubling signs of alcohol and marijuana addiction in the background of class video conferences, several professors report having to meet friends, family, and significant others that wander into the frame.

One such professor of archeology at Mississippi University stated, “I used to just receive a ‘personal emergency’ e-mail when a student didn’t want to come to class, now I have to watch them lean over in a bean bag chair in order to Juul out of the video frame during class.” He added that “in real family emergencies, it’s even worse, as one student sat by his dying grandmother’s bed on video during class.” In response to these complications, authorities at several U.S. universities have sent out a notice to students and professors with various tips for conducting online video classes, including one which advises that if you are going to log on in only a shirt and no pants, please do not stand up.