Seeing is believing

I understand and appreciate how important sight is, that pictures in themselves convey if not a thousand words, certainly 687. I understand too that in these locked-down  times of communicating remotely for the purposes of work and social connection, it is important for many (most?) sighted people to be able to see the person they are speaking to. Video calls are therefore the default rather than voice-only ones.

 

While I can see that something is happening on the screen, I can’t see what it is, who is speaking, what they look like, what they’re wearing or their surroundings. Similarly, I can’t see enough to properly line up my own phone/iPad camera to frame myself. However, I continue to use video on all these calls and meetings as I know that it is expected and makes for a better sense of connection for most people.

 

The downside is that I find it exhausting and incredibly exposing. It’s not just that people can see me and I can’t see them, although this is part of it. In normal circumstances, while not being able to see the detail of their faces, I can see something of people’s shape, type/colour of clothing, hair shape/colour, But that is fairly close-up and in normal proportions. I know that others can always see more of me than I can of them and am continually surprised at the amount that sighted people can see in comparison with what I do.

 

I find myself wondering and to an extent mistrusting the established ‘truth’ that people need to see each other in order to communicate most authentically. It is like saying that TV is an obviously more authentic medium than radio. While I understand it, and am not denying the usefulness of eyesight, there’s something lazy and superficial about claiming the supremacy of video over wholly spoken conversations.

 

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