In the times of the pandemic, virtual communication has become an integral part of our daily lives. Zoom has recently stated that the platform has a whopping 300 million daily meeting participants, which has soared from 10 million back in December. Similarly, Microsoft has recorded 200 million meeting participants in a single day, and Google Meet hit over 100 million daily users.

At this point, we all know very well that not everything is what it seems when you’re connecting in the comfort of your home. So when a scientist named Gretchen Goldman shared a revealing snap of her actual Zoom call background, it was bound to go viral. The caption stated: “Just so I'm being honest,” and the tweet amassed 282.5k likes and 30.6k retweets.

Sooner than we knew it, many others also decided to share what their colleagues and interviewers on the other side of the screen don’t get to see. The pics are both painfully relatable and funny to look at, and it’s a fair reminder that nailing the effortlessly cool video call setup is kinda a form of art.