With all social gatherings now being put on hold for the foreseeable future people still need to go to work, school, and spend time with their friends and family. Facetime, Skype, and a few other popular video chat applications have been around for many years, but throughout quarantine, Zoom has been the main choice. According to CNBC, Zoom has seen a 20% increase in users since January. Thousands of schools, including Brookdale, have begun using Zoom as a way to still conduct classes. Many businesses have also turned to Zoom for meetings as well.

Normal life can’t be completely put on hold, so people turned to Zoom to keep them connected with the things they need to get done. One issue that Zoom is able to deal with quite well is connection issues. It is important for people in a Zoom call to be able to communicate back and forth with those in the call smoothly. In a Zoom class students need to be able to hear the teacher clearly as well as be able to ask questions. The same goes for a business meeting.

“It’s actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I haven’t had any issues with connection or anything in any of my classes,” said Azhar Quereshi, a 20-year-old business major from Hazlet.

While Zoom was created as a way for meetings and classes to be done remotely before COVID-19 was around, many people are also using it to get together with friends. Birthday parties, Easter celebrations, or just talking with friends are all things Zoom has helped with. The NFL is even using Zoom to conduct the draft this year. Some teams are even inviting fans to join their calls and talk with players and coaches.

“On Easter, I helped my mom set up a Zoom with her siblings. We always have everyone over our house for dinner so this was the best way to still make that happen,” said Morgan Pipicz, a 20-year-old psychology major from Keansburg.