Everybody seems to be Zooming these days, availing themselves of the user-friendly video conferencing app for work-from-home meetings, church services, birthday parties, AA meetings, happy hours, shiva, trivia nights, pilates classes, and virtual classrooms for students as young as preschool age. 

 

Zoom has been a force for good for so many during this extended quarantine. According to Zoom's founder and CEO Eric Yuan, active daily usage increased from 10 million users per day in December 2019 to 200 million per day in March 2020 (from A Message to Our Users posted April 1, 2020.) In a CNBC online video newscast, one journalist reported that "it's a Zoom economy" in light of rocketing stock values since February, and an increase in Zoom founder Eric Yuan's net worth up by $2 billion in 2020.  

 

Unfortunately, its widespread use and open access have been a boon to disrupters intent on using the platform to harass, shock, and agitate, breaking in to "invitation only" gatherings with disturbing, serious and hateful intrusions, aka Zoombombing. 

 

As with all technology, security and privacy are critical to users, and Yuan admits that the steep COVID-fueled increase in consumer use has led to "missteps." He adds that Zoom is putting its energy into educating consumers about security features, and committed to "double down and triple down on privacy and security."

​

On a lighter note, Zoom has made its way into a COVID-19 translation of the beloved children's story Goodnight Moon as "Goodnight Zoom." Artist Stefanie Trilling has reimagined and designed cover art for this and other iconic children's books, including "Everyone Poops (Not Everyone Has Toilet Paper),, and "Green Eggs and Wash Your Hands."

​

 

​