Tag: News

• After nearly a decade, the USS Ronald Reagan is leaving the Pacific.
• Originally deployed in 2015, the carrier supported US allies and interests in the Indo-Pacific.
• USS Ronald Reagan has served in other roles, providing air support in Afghanistan and aiding Japan after its 2011 disaster.

The USS Ronald Reagan, the only aircraft carrier in the US Navy forward deployed, or permanently stationed in another country, is leaving Japan after spending nearly a decade in the Pacific.

"For nearly nine years, thousands of Ronald Reagan Sailors have lived and worked here in Yokosuka, and have deployed throughout the region to uphold the international rule of law and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific along with our allies and partners," Capt. Daryle Cardone, Ronald Reagan's commanding officer, said in a press release Thursday.

Originally deployed to Japan in 2015 as part of a big three-carrier swap during which three flattops all named after former presidents changed homeports at once, the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier remained in the Indo-Pacific region and provided support and assistance to neighboring US allies.

The Reagan has been the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, CSG 5, and been forward-deployed under US 7th Fleet, "the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet," which "routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region."

The US military phrase "free and open Indo-Pacific region" generally refers to the US vision for the region and is meant to stand in contrast with competing aims from China.

In 2021, USS Ronald Reagan briefly left its forward-deployed position to provide air support during US withdrawal operations in Afghanistan.

The USS Ronald Reagan already had a history of cooperation with Japan prior to its deployment. The ship was sent to assist the country following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that hit its coast in 2011.

The aircraft carrier, CVN-76, will return to Bremerton, Washington, and be replaced by USS George Washington later this year. The George Washington previously served as the forward-deployed carrier in Japan.

"Our relationship with Japan and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has never been stronger," said Rear Adm. Greg Newkirk, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, per the Navy. "Whether it's aboard USS Ronald Reagan today or USS George Washington in the future, we will continue to strengthen those ties at all levels, on-shore and at-sea."

Aircraft carriers like the Reagan, "when combined with guided-missile destroyers and cruisers, creates a carrier strike group of up to 12 ships and 75 aircraft," according to the Navy's 7th Fleet. "These forces have a higher operational tempo than other Navy vessels, and being forward-deployed cuts an average of 17 days transit time to the region compared to forces based in the continental U.S."

The Reagan's deployment in Japan has long demonstrated US support for allies, as well as American force posture and strength in the Pacific. Aircraft carriers remain a key US element to projecting force and power far away from US soil, often meant to deter enemies and maintain the US-led order in times of tension and conflict.

Last October, following Hamas' deadly terrorist attack in Israel, the US sent the US Navy's newest supercarrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group into waters near Israel as a sign of support, as well as an act of deterrence to prevent other actors, such as Iran and its proxy groups, from getting involved as Israeli forces began engaging Hamas in Gaza.

In the Pacific, the presence of an American carrier is meant to deter China from aggressive behavior, as well as signify strong alliances between the US and its Pacific allies. Having a US carrier based in the Pacific alongside other 7th Fleet warships, is also aimed at keeping Russia and North Korea in check.

• Recent stagflationary forecasts are misguided for this year, Bank of America wrote on Thursday.
• While first-quarter GDP badly missed estimates, the inflation that was seen was driven by strong consumer spending.
• That separates it from the US's last bout with stagflation, in 2022, when higher prices were caused by a supply shock.

Bank of America isn't worried about looming stagflationary fallout, and says recent anxiety around the dangerous economic scenario was based on misread data points.

Fear arose in April when first-quarter GDP missed expectations as inflation figures simultaneously surpassed estimates. This set off alarm bells around possible stagflation, an unwelcome development where prices keep rising amid an economic cooldown — and a situation that can ultimately be worse than recession.

But Bank of America has delved deeper into the data and found that these fears aren't warranted. It uses a stagflationary period in 2022 as a basis for comparison — a period when inflation rose because of a post-COVID supply shock that far outpaced demand.

"It is based on an apples-to-oranges comparison," the bank said in a Thursday note. "The miss in GDP was driven by trade and inventories. Consumer spending, which is related to PCE inflation, has been robust in four of the last five months."

In other words, the catalysts for inflation are different and less ominous this time around, because they're driven by demand. Sure, inflation is rising, but it's doing so because consumers are strong, which isn't normally the case during a stagflation period. 

Fueling the trend are a few possible factors, the note highlighted. They include rising aggregate income from an expanding labor force and increased willingness to spend on services as goods continue to deflate.

BofA doesn't expect the current trend to abate any time soon, saying "the big-picture story of resilient spending growth should remain unaltered."

Further, the firm notes that demand-driven inflation actually makes the Fed's job easier as it assesses the path of future interest-rate hikes. While supply shocks tend to "muddy the waters" for the Fed, the central bank actually welcomes demand disruptions, as they are easier to effectively combat through monetary-policy decisions, BofA said.

• One of Jeffrey Epstein's "little black books" is for sale.
• Business Insider first reported about the 1997 address book belonging to the disgraced financier.
• The book contains entries for 349 people and reveals a snapshot of his social circle.

An address book belonging to the late sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is going up for sale.

The "little black book" — which was first revealed by Business Insider reporters — is on auction for the first time, according to Maryland auction house Alexander Historical Auctions.

"The history of this criminal relic is fascinating!" the auctioneers say on the book's listing page.

As BI reported in 2021, the book contains hundreds of names connected to Epstein's social circle dating to October 1997. A majority of the 349 people referenced in this address book are not mentioned in a later book from the aughts — one that was unearthed by the FBI as part of investigations into Epstein.

Among the names in the 1997 book are financier Carl Icahn; Donald Trump ally and supermarket mogul John A. Catsimatidis; Suzanne Ircha, the wife of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and a reportedly close friend of Melania Trump; Cristina Greeven, the wife of former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

The book also contains names referenced in the later address book, such as Donald Trump himself and Alan Dershowitz. It also includes a listing for the White House's main information line; Bill Clinton was president at the time.

A woman in Manhattan's East Village told BI she found the book on the sidewalk and later sold it on eBay to a graduate student in Vermont. BI hired a forensic document examiner to authenticate the document as part of a monthslong investigation.

Bidding on the little black book is now live and will remain open until June 15, Alexander Historical Auctions wrote. The auctioneers said they reserve the right to reveal how much someone paid for the book, but won't disclose the buyer.

The auction house's owner, Bill Panagopulos, told the New York Post that he estimates the book could sell for $200,000 or more.

"There are NO comparables, nothing so far-reaching in its effects on politics, society, royalty, finance … it goes on and on," Panagopulos said, according to the Post.

Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from an underage girl in 2008 after getting a cushy deal from prosecutors at the time, serving just over a year in jail.

Years later, federal investigations began probing Epstein's dealings, and he was arrested in 2019 on charges of running a sex trafficking ring. Epstein was taken into custody but died in prison months later; his death was ruled a suicide, and a later Department of Justice report revealed jail officials botched security that could have prevented his death.

Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was also arrested, tried, and convicted on sex trafficking charges. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

• Netflix announced a three-season deal with the NFL.
• The streamer will show two NFL games on Christmas this year.
• There's a simple reason Netflix now wants to get into live sports programming.

No more wondering whether Netflix is going to show real live sports: The streamer now has a three-season deal with the most popular sports league in America — the NFL.

Netflix will show two NFL games on Christmas Day this year, plus "at least one" game on Christmas in 2025 and 2026, the company and the NFL announced Wednesday.

The deal will cost Netflix about $75 million per game, Bloomberg reported.

As we've discussed before, the logic for Netflix is simple here: While Netflix spent years insisting it didn't want to be in live sports, that was before it had an ad business, and live sports — particularly for the NFL — are considered the best way to aggregate an audience of ad watchers. Not coincidentally, Netflix is making its pitch to advertisers Wednesday in New York as part of the annual "upfront" pitch cycle.

And if you don't care about Netflix's ad sales and care only about watching NFL games, this simply means you need to have yet another network to watch games this fall. The league, which has become an expert at getting multiple media companies to pay it for games, already had deals with CBS, Fox, NBC, Disney/ESPN, and Amazon. Add another to the list.

Update: May 16, 2024 — Netflix will pay the NFL about $150 million to broadcast two NFL games this year, according to a Bloomberg report, not $150 million for each game.

• Uber is offering new perks for Costco lovers as it looks to expand into the suburbs.
• Members and non-members can now shop Costco on Uber Eats for delivery of groceries and more.
• Costco members will get better pricing, plus a 20% discount on an Uber One membership.

As Uber looks to expand its reach beyond cities, the company is forging an alliance with the veritable king of suburbia: Costco.

"The Uber name is kind of an urban brand and we believe our most significant growth opportunity in the US is in the suburbs," CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told CNBC earlier this month.

The ride-hailing and delivery service on Wednesday announced a new partnership with the wholesale club that will bring Costco groceries and merchandise to customers via Uber Eats.

Costco members and non-members alike will be able to purchase products, but the pricing for members will be be roughly 15% to 20% lower. No hotdogs or pizza, unfortunately, as food court items are not listed in the app.

Costco currently offers same-day delivery through Instacart, with members-only pricing through its website. Non-members can shop through Instacart's site for a higher price, while the lowest pricing is almost always in the warehouse.

Uber also recently partnered with Instacart in a bid to take on DoorDash, especially among higher-income suburban shoppers.

"The over 10 million Instacart customers who tend to live in the suburbs tend to be highly affluent, shop with big basket sizes," Khosrowshahi told CNBC.

Costco members will also get a 20% discount on an Uber One membership, which offers free deliveries, discounts on certain purchases, and member pricing on rides.

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Almost Friday! Distance makes the heart grow fonder, but don't let it fool you into thinking the old TV bundle was a good deal. Navigating streaming services is a better bet than getting stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it package.

In today's big story, inflation is cooling just in time for a US presidential election that will likely focus heavily on the economy.

What's on deck:

• Markets: How giant quant funds like Renaissance Technologies and Two Sigma did in April.
• Tech: Inside Google's big reorg to prepare for the AI era.
• Business: Jobseekers and recruiters are all using AI. It's chaos.

But first, cool (inflation) for the summer.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

The economy and the election

Sometimes, the biggest surprise is when there isn't one at all.

Market experts haven't seemed much like "experts" this year, with their economic predictions mostly missing the mark. Nowhere is that more obvious than their recent inflation estimates, which have been off target.

Both sides finally connected on Wednesday, as April's inflation report aligned with what experts expected. The Consumer Price Index increased 3.4%, a slight cooling from March's 3.5% year-over-year increase, writes Business Insider's Madison Hoff.

But don't start counting your summer interest-rate cuts before they're announced. As much as investors are begging for the Fed's policy to loosen up, rushing things could spell trouble, writes BI's Jennifer Sor.

Market vet Ed Yardeni warned a June or July rate cut would create a market "meltup." Think of it like a sugar high: Stocks surge initially from the relief but eventually suffer a steep drop.

The first cut seems more likely to come in the fall. After all, Fed Chair Jerome Powell hasn't indicated he's in a rush.

CME's FedWatch Tool seems to agree, with interest-rate traders viewing the September Fed meeting as the favorite for rates to drop.

That timeline means the first rate cut will precede the US presidential election.

Powell has said the election won't influence the central bank's decision. And he does have ties to both candidates — former President Donald Trump nominated him, President Joe Biden renominated him. But it's hard not to see how lowering rates for the first time so close to the election couldn't have an impact.

The economy always weighs heavy on the mind of the American voter, but even more so now. Inflation, home prices, and the cost of education and healthcare are top concerns for many voters heading into November.

On Wednesday, Biden and Trump agreed to face off in two debates, the first coming in June. But you don't have to wait to see where they stand on these economic topics.

BI's economy and politics team detailed Biden and Trump's plans across eight major economic categories by analyzing their time in the White House and their campaign promises.

While the two are far apart on some issues (student-loan debt) there is common ground (tax cuts for low- and middle-income households).

Still, chasms exist between both sides' perceptions of how their candidate ran the economy.

Take a KFF poll, which found 91% of Democratic voters believe Biden has done more to address healthcare costs.

Meanwhile, 91% of Republicans believe Trump did better while in office.

3 things in markets

1. Roaring Kitty's back, but it's all starting to feel weird. Keith Gill's return sparked a massive rally among meme stocks in what felt like a revival of 2021's wild short squeeze. But as the stocks fall back down to Earth, the random video compilations he's been posting feel more like a mid-life crisis than a return to the glory days.
2. Quant hedge funds' April report cards are in. Renaissance Technologies, whose founder Jim Simons passed away earlier this month, saw its largest fund up 1.8% in April. Meanwhile, other quantitative giants like Two Sigma and D.E. Shaw had more modest gains. Check them all out here.
3. Stocks have peaked for the year, Goldman Sachs says. The equity-market rally has run its course and the S&P 500 won't end 2024 above its current level, according to the bank's chief US equity strategist David Kostin. There's no economic, valuation, or earnings argument for further upside right now, he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

3 things in tech

1. AI is changing the battle between Android and iPhone. Sameer Samat, Google's Android chief, said AI marks a massive opportunity for the Android ecosystem — ultimately reinventing what smartphones can do.
2. How Google reshuffled its top ranks to get ahead in AI. CEO Sundar Pichai redesigned his leadership team with a mixture of long-timers and established leaders to speed up decisions. Now he has 18 direct reports, according to an internal org chart seen by Business Insider.
3. AI companies are pivoting away from the largest, most-advanced models. Microsoft, Google, Apple, and OpenAI all recently released smaller, cheaper AI tools. They're likely betting that enterprise customers will prioritize affordability over cutting-edge technology.

3 things in business

1. Getting a job is getting really weird. On the business side, AI is being used to write job descriptions, judge applicants' skills, and rate candidates' responses. On the applicant side, people are using AI to write their résumés and apply to hundreds of jobs at a time. It's total chaos — and only getting worse.
2. Netflix just solidified your Christmas plans. The streamer inked a three-year deal with the NFL to show its football games, two of which will be aired on Christmas this year. While the deal is a boost for the streamer, it's also another subscription fans will need to pay for to catch games.
3. Meet AWS's new "bulldozer" boss. Matt Garman will become the new CEO of Amazon's cloud division in June. The 18-year veteran is known for being direct and earlier this year completed a major organizational shake-up that eliminated overlapping roles and redundancy.

In other news

• Brands aren't hurt by advertising on hard news, a new report finds.
• I have spent entirely too much time thinking about Mark Zuckerberg's outfit at his birthday party.
• Adam Neumann is now in the publishing business, with his residential real estate company buying a quirky Montauk surfing magazine.

What's happening today

• Today's earnings: Walmart is among the companies reporting.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

• McDonald's is reportedly planning to offer a $5 meal deal for a month this summer.
• But some customers are already saying that the promotion isn't worth it. 
• Diners are cutting back on fast food because of costs, eating at sit-down restaurants or at home.

McDonald's is trying to win back customers with a $5 meal deal this summer. But some diners are already lampooning the offer.

The fast-food chain will start offering the deal for about a month beginning June 25 at its US restaurants, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The meal will come with customers' choice of a McDouble or McChicken, as well as a small fries, four McNuggets, and a small soft drink.

But while the deal doesn't start for over a month, some consumers already say it isn't worth it.

One X user replied to the company's official account to criticize the fact that it's only a temporary promotion:

Another called the deal "skimpy," referring to an earlier-reported version of the promotion that wouldn't have included chicken nuggets:

McDonald's is offering the promotion as a way of boosting foot traffic at its restaurants, according to the Journal. However, some franchisees are skeptical of the plan and have expressed doubt that they can offer the meal profitably at just $5.

They're not alone. On TikTok, user sources_say questioned how McDonald's is even able to offer the deal, citing a jump in food prices over the last few years.

"I'm not going to get that," he says in the video. "How is this food so cheap due to inflation?"

A spokesperson for McDonald's did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The promotion is the latest example of how the chain is trying to cater to customers looking for good deals as food prices have spiraled during a broader sustained period of inflation. McDonald's is limiting price increases overall in light of customers the company thinks are "price weary," executives said on an earnings call earlier this month.

Some customers are turning to sit-down chain restaurants instead of fast food to get more for their money. Some of those chains are even taking aim at fast-food joints with new offerings, such as a new smash burger at Chili's.

• Neuralink reported a malfunction in its patient's brain-chip implant weeks after insertion.
• Noland Arbaugh told Bloomberg he "cried a little bit" after he found out about the malfunction. 
• He thought his "journey was coming to an end" despite getting used to using the implant. 

The first person to get a Neuralink brain implant said he "cried a little bit" after finding out there had been a malfunction with the device.

Noland Arbaugh told Bloomberg he realized the implant had malfunctioned weeks after he had the device inserted in January.

The 29-year-old said he noticed a delay between his thoughts and moving the computer cursor, and he was told by Neuralink that the device's wires, or "threads," had pulled away from his brain.

"At first, they didn't know how serious it would be or a ton about it. It was really hard to hear. I thought I'd gotten to use it for maybe a month, and then my journey was coming to an end," Arbaugh said.

Neuralink used a blog post last week to disclose the implant had malfunctioned, and give a progress update.

The implant, called "The Link," has more than 1,000 electrodes and 64 threads, each thinner than a strand of human hair. Some of the threads pulled out of position, and The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has considered removing the device entirely.

Arbaugh added: "I thought they would just keep collecting some data but that they were really going to move on to the next person. I cried a little bit."

Elon Musk's neurotech firm also said in the blog it had fixed the issue and the implant was now functioning better than before.

Since Arbaugh had surgery to get it inserted, the quadriplegic has been using it to surf the web, play computer games, and control his laptop while lying in bed — something he wasn't able to do before.

Neuralink didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that he expects interest rates to stay higher for longer.
• He said his confidence that inflation will slow "is not as high as it was."
• Still, the slowing job market is a sign that the economy is moving in the right direction.

Inflation and interest rates are still high, but Americans shouldn't count on any relief just yet.

Since July 2023, the Federal Reserve has held interest rates steady as it continues to work toward its 2% inflation target, and it looks like rates might stay the same for longer than previously expected.

The year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, came in at 3.4% in April, per a news release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics out Wednesday. That's just below March's 3.5% increase and shows that despite the slight cooling, inflation is still remaining stubbornly high. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 3.6% from April 2023 to this past April, a small dip from the 3.8% year-over-year rise in March.

Mark Hamrick, Bankrate senior economic analyst, said in a statement that those rates "remain irritatingly high."

"The status of the battle against inflation requires that interest rates remain elevated in the near-term," Hamrick said.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell elaborated on the implications of this year's inflation readings during a Tuesday panel discussion in Amsterdam. While his comments were before Wednesday's release, his message is still relevant: Americans should get used to interest rates being higher for longer until the Fed feels confident enough that inflation is moving in the right direction.

"The first quarter in the United States was notable for its lack of further progress on inflation," Powell said during the panel.

"We did not expect this to be a smooth road, but these were higher than I think anybody expected," Powell added. "What that has told us is that we'll need to be patient and let restrictive policy do its work."

He added that his confidence that inflation will slow "is not as high as it was, having seen these readings in the first three months of the year."

While the Federal Open Market Committee projected three interest rate cuts for 2024 in December, it's looking more likely cuts will not happen until the second half of this year, at the earliest. Still, Powell maintained on Tuesday that the most likely outcome is that the Fed will just continue to hold rates steady.

Survey results highlight how consumers are feeling about inflation and the overall economy. University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers data published this past Friday shows consumers are feeling pretty gloomy about the economy; the results also imply that Americans are still worried about inflation.

"Year-ahead inflation expectations rose from 3.2% last month to 3.5% this month, remaining above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic," Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said.

Markets and investors, based off the CME FedWatch Tool as of Wednesday afternoon, think there's roughly a 10% chance of a cut in June, a one in three chance by July, and a roughly three-quarters chance by September.

The economy is settling down

Data about the labor market and spending show the US economy is robust but slowing into a steady groove.

Powell said policy is weighing on the labor market and interest-rate-sensitive spending, and said the Fed's "policy is the highest it's been in quite some time."

Job growth has moderated. There were 175,000 jobs added in April, far below the gains seen earlier this year. But while job seekers and workers may find this cooldown concerning, that moderation is also welcome and the labor market is still strong.

"Compared to expectations, definitely was a disappointing report," Nick Bunker, the economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told Business Insider. "But, I think if the underlying trend in the labor market is toward moderation, you're going to have reports like this from time to time that come in a little bit weaker than expected or what you'd want to see."

New data out Wednesday showed the change in retail and food services sales from March to April was flat after a 0.6% increase in March and a 0.7% increase just before that in February. The year-over-year change in April was also less than the change in March — 3.0% in April versus 3.8% in March.

Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate, told Business Insider that while the retail sales numbers weren't stellar, they are also far from being disastrous.

Rossman said spending has "remained surprisingly strong" and that if consumers are beginning to pull back on their spending, that could perhaps be "a good decision at the household level."

"It's not necessarily great for the economy, but hey, we don't want you to be in credit card debt at that average interest rate over 20%," Rossman said. "So, maybe the fact that people are eating out a little bit less and they're pulling back on bigger ticket purchases like furniture and cars, maybe that's a good rational thing in the long run."

Elizabeth Renter, a data analyst at NerdWallet, said in recent commentary that some "consumers may be pulling back slightly on spending, and who can blame them?"

"Paired with high borrowing costs — like high interest rates on your credit cards — and the current economy can feel quite uncomfortable," Renter added.

So, while Americans are likely on track for higher interest rates longer than they might have hoped, Powell said on Tuesday that it's not all bad, and things are gradually moving in the right direction.

"At the beginning, we were very concerned that the very high inflation we saw might be quite difficult to bring down without a very significant decline in employment and weakening economic activity," Powell said on Tuesday. "That didn't happen, that's just a great result."

• Christina Farr, who invests in healthcare tech startups, has ditched most of her Zoom meetings.
• Farr, 36, said she's "happier" and "healthier" after switching 90% of her meetings to the phone.
• Video calls can be more exhausting because being on camera is harder, recent research has found.

If anyone is ready to kick Zoom to the curb, it's Christina Farr.

The 36-year-old healthcare tech investor said on X, formerly Twitter, earlier this month that 90 percent of her meetings are phone calls, while 10 percent are on Zoom.

"I'm healthier, happier, and the benefits derived from taking meetings on a walk far outpace my enjoyment of seeing someone's face over a screen," wrote Farr, who also writes a Substack newsletter on healthcare technology called "Second Opinion" for 20,000 subscribers.

Other desk workers have moved away from video calls, a decision that is also backed up by recent research on Zoom fatigue.

Switching video meetings to phone calls

Speaking to Business Insider — over the phone, of course — Farr said the choice to switch to mostly phone meetings with her network of startup founders, investors, and operators happened after she developed sciatica, or nerve pain, while working remotely for a venture-capital fund in 2021.

"Suddenly, I was six months pregnant, sitting at home during a pandemic, and on these back-to-back Zoom calls," said Farr, who now mostly works a hybrid schedule. "I was just sitting all the time."

She said her condition "got so bad" that she struggled to move toward the end of her pregnancy. Though sciatica can have various causes, Farr said she firmly suspects the hours on Zoom sans physical activity was one of the main culprits.

Farr started moving her video meetings to phone calls so that she could take walks during them. She recalled some people she asked to switch formats reacted with surprise, "You feel like you're that annoying person that's like, 'Hey, do you actually mind if we don't do video?'"

But the more she asked, the more Farr — who said she has up to seven hours of meetings each weekday — realized how many other people also hated Zoom.

"People almost want to talk to me because it's the one break in the day when they don't have to be sitting," she said. "I have been getting responses like, 'Oh my God, thank you so much. I really don't want to do that either.'"

Farr knows phone calls don't work for every type of meeting, especially when visuals are crucial — like when a slide deck is being presented. However, she said, it's usually a viable option.

There's a perception that being off camera is rude

Alyssa Jaffee, a friend of Farr's who is also a healthcare-tech investor, also prefers to use the phone for most of her meetings — which can take up to 10 hours during her workday, depending on the day.

Jaffee, a partner at Chicago-based VC fund 7wireVentures, believes the pandemic propped up the idea that it's "rude" to be off-camera because "you're not present if you're not on video."

"There is a challenge around the perception that is hard to break free from," Jaffee, 37, said.

But she said it's a false narrative.

"When I am on audio only, I am often moving, I'm often walking in my neighborhood, I'm walking on the treadmill in my basement, and I'm only focused on the conversation I'm doing now," she said, adding that being on the phone mitigates the chance of being distracted by incoming notifications, emails, or other browser tabs. "There's no universe that just sitting in front of a screen looking at your own face is better for you."

Jaffee also said that some meetings that people think need to be on video because they involve presentations could actually be conducted audio-only.

"We did this long before Zoom existed for pitch calls," she said. "People used to be good storytellers."

Zoom haters have research to justify their stance

Farr's and Jaffee's criticisms of video conference calls are backed up by a recent academic journal article by Stanford professor Jeremy Bailensonon why people typically find video meetings exhausting.

Bailenson's report, which expands on his Wall Street Journal opinion piece from 2020, argues that the primary cause of "Zoom fatigue" is "nonverbal overload," because people work harder to communicate with body language.

In his newer report, Bailenson said the overload may be caused by aspects of video calls including unnatural and "intense" prolonged eye contact, constantly being able to see yourself, reduced mobility, and unconsciously having to work harder to execute "nonverbal communication."

Bailenson concluded the report with a simple suggestion: "Make 'audio only' Zoom meetings the default, or better yet, insist on taking some calls via telephone."

For Zoom haters like Farr, reports like Bailenson's are vindicating.

"I don't want to see my face. I don't particularly need to see anyone else's face," Farr said. "I certainly don't want to see your face at the expense of my own health and well-being."