Sammy Nickalls, a writer based in Pennsylvania, often has to poop immediately before a Zoom call. “I always end up thinking to myself, ‘Oh God, do I have time to take care of this before the call?’ and ‘WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?’”
Nickalls is experiencing what for most of us is a new phenomenon: the dreaded Zoom poop. As the pandemic forced more people to transition from an office setting to their new work-from-home life, crucial bathroom routines were suddenly upended. Folks who used to regularly poop at, say, 7:00 after a morning run but before their commute to work no longer had that built-in structure around which they could build their bathroom habits. They did, however, face a new stressor: the dreaded video call.