
A recent video of a college student faking his kidnapping during a Zoom call has gone viral, sparking a trend dubbed Zoomnappings.
In the 23-second video, a college student called Tyler is seen sitting during an online lecture when two hooded figures suddenly emerge and drag him from the room.
At first the lecturer continues with the work at hand as some of the students giggle in the background. He then pauses to ask, “Did you guys just see Tyler get kidnapped?”
They staged a kidnapping to get him out of lectures. This is real friendship goals ?????????????? pic.twitter.com/zHrFtf7URS
— Baby Goat ?????? (@Blayofficial) September 21, 2020
Many online
users were concerned about the youngster's safety, but in fact Tyler staged his
kidnapping so he could get out of his class, FoxNews
reports.
He later shared an explainer video on TikTok with his friends Jake and Horace – the baddies in the hoodies – revealing that he was safe and thanking everyone for their concern.
Since Tyler’s video with his friends, Zoomnappings have gained popularity, with many students jumping on the bandwagon.
Check out these bizarre Zoomnappings.
not her getting kidnapped on zoom pic.twitter.com/p1y5SsNNeG
— ? (@prismisbetter) September 22, 2020
The professors have truly seen it all when they don’t skip a beat at someone getting kidnapped on zoom pic.twitter.com/1z1PzMZXDn
— Barstool Buffalo Online #DraftGraves2021 (@BuffsBarstool) September 25, 2020
He got kidnapped on the Zoom Class ???? pic.twitter.com/9UGeyeKFpI
— @flowmoser on Instagram (@blazeroski) September 8, 2020
Getting out
of Zoom meetings has clearly become a thing. Earlier this year Twitter user
Matt Buckley shared a nifty loop video trick to zoom in and out of meetings.
The conferencing app allows you to customize your own background and using this tool, Mark created a demonstration post of himself in which he shares a fake video of ten to 15 seconds of himself pretending to be at his desk.
Zoom pro tip 1: Backgrounds are customizable.
— Kate Buckley (@EchinoKate) March 17, 2020
Zoom pro tip 2: You can customize yourself right out of that meeting. pic.twitter.com/rV1KAyDEgF
Mark found
this customizing feature while he was playing around with the app, according to
The
Sun.
“The virtual background feature came to my attention because I love clicking around inside of new programs and seeing what’s there,” he explained.
“Additionally, some younger colleagues were using the feature in a meeting the other day (mostly to hide messy rooms, apparently), and I thought it would be fun to play around with it even more.”
For those looking to check out the customization tool, it’s only available on the Zoom’s subscription option.
Another Twitter user David Muttering, asked tweeps to share creative ways to dodge virtual meetings, parties, and classes.
People didn’t hold back at their outrageous responses with one user referring to the classic connectivity issues.
Writers of Twitter - can you put your creative talents into thinking of excuses for the rest of us to avoid tedious meetings and unwelcome zoom drinks? Old favourites like "I'm sorry, I've got a thing that night" and "I'm not in London then, I'm afraid" no longer cut any ice.
— David QC (@DavidMuttering) March 31, 2020
Accept gracefully, then at the allotted time text ‘Has anyone got in? It’s not letting me join for some reason.’
— Boudicca of Suburbia (@BoudiccaMum) March 31, 2020
Another
user shared the trick of using a high pitched sound recorded sound of a whistle,
rustling a crisp packet to mimic a breaking up sound, and covering your camera
with a piece of duct tape in an attempt to get asked to leave the meeting.
I will say that a rustled crisp packet skillfully employed can still do a convincing "sorry you're breaking up, not sure what's wrong with this connection". Combined with a piece of duct tape over your camera and lots of "Can you see me. hello? hello?" & it may work.
— Mawb [eminently reasonable] (@KingMobUK) March 31, 2020