Google Meet interruption intervention

Meeting remotely is tough because you can’t read people’s body language. When you’re in the room with someone, it’s hard for them to do something else, and you can read their body language and nonverbal cues. However, all of this is lost when we’re all floating heads in Google Meet.

One of the byproducts of this, I’ve noticed, is more interruptions than you might see in a normal conversation. It’s not always the case, but when a group of people are passionate, a conversation can devolve rather quickly.

This got me thinking about Google Meet (and Zoom), what if there was a way to punish interrupters by giving them a three-strike policy and then giving them the boot if they continue to talk over others?

My gut says this would be wildly unpopular. Interruptions are, to some extent, a natural byproduct of conversation. To punish it indiscriminately would inevitably lead to 1) a lot of frustrated people and 2) people abusing the tool to get someone off a call.

Still, it’d be fun for a bit.

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