Editorial | Top 10 thoughts after the first week of Zoom classes

Promiti Debi | Senior Staff Illustrator

By The Pitt News Editorial Board
January 22, 2021

We are tired — too tired to think of a funny way to start this editorial. Having an entire six weeks of break was so great, we forgot what it felt like to stare at a screen for seven hours a day. Now, we remember what it feels like, but otherwise, there have been few thoughts moving through our brains. But here are some of them.

  1. I am going to drop out

Technically add/drop doesn’t end until Feb. 5. You have time and resources.

  1. Should I risk it in the chat?

No, you shouldn’t risk it. But you will anyway, because you need some joy and excitement in your life. You might type to your friend that you haven’t showered in three days, or you might type it to the entire class.

  1. Uh, the password?

Oh, sorry we don’t have the Zoom password 937593294832048932 memorized by heart on the second day of class. We don’t even know our PeopleSoft number. Sometimes we forget the Oakland zip code.

  1. Oh God do I actually look like that?

It’s possible, but also, everyone else set their alarms to go off two minutes before class started. So we’re all in solidarity, here.

  1. How do I change my Zoom name permanently?

You mean you don’t want your full legal name on display every single class?

But in all seriousness, we have no idea. Whatever the method is, you probably have to log into my.pitt, which means you have to use Duo Mobile. Ask yourself, is it really worth it? No, it’s not.

  1. Pets!

Forget coffee. It’s the professors who let their cats make an appearance on the screen that get us through the day.

  1. Big lectures don’t hit the same

A brief list of things students are nostalgic for during the pandemic:

  • Talking to friends in between classes
  • Bars
  • Being packed into Lawrence Hall like sardines for a 300-person Intro to Psychology lecture.
  1. My back hurts

Remember when we made fun of orthopedic desk chair commercials and then subsequently backpedaled on the joke because our backs hurt? Yeah, we’re still paying the price.

  1. I can probably just watch the recording later, right?

No, you’re not gonna watch the recording later. But as Joan Didion once famously wrote, “we tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

  1. Can my professor tell that I’m doing work in another tab?

Yes. But it’s not like that’s gonna stop you from doing it.