Virtual Glass: The Overlooked Key to Better Video Conferencing

Video conferencing has become ubiquitous, yet most platforms still follow the same rigid formula: cameras are either fully on or off, with little middle ground. This binary approach creates friction-people feel exposed when visible or disconnected when hidden.

The current approach also breaks the essential reciprocity of real-world communication by allowing unilateral surveillance — where some participants can observe without being seen themselves. This creates an unnatural power dynamic that would never occur in face-to-face interactions, where visibility is always mutual.

Furthermore, most platforms compound these issues with distracting interface decisions, constantly reshuffling and resizing participants in ways that prioritize speakers over consistent presence, disrupting the visual stability needed for comfortable, sustained interaction.

These flaws combine to create video experiences that feel fundamentally unnatural, explaining why so many users report fatigue and dissatisfaction despite technological advancements in resolution and features. The missing piece isn’t better cameras or microphones, but rather a rethinking of visibility itself — which is exactly what virtual glass provides.

Virtual glass is a simple but transformative concept that rethinks how presence works in video meetings. Surprisingly, mainstream tools have ignored this idea, despite its clear benefits for engagement, privacy, and comfort.

A meeting with people behind a virtual frosted glass in the MeetingGlass app

How Virtual Glass Changes Presence on the Video

Core Principles

1. Mutual Visibility

• Just like real glass windows, you only see others if they can see you.
• Only those who enable their cameras can see you, keeping things fair.
• Creates natural reciprocity. You don’t have hidden observers watching the visible participants.

2. Equal Visual Weight

• All participants appear at equal size, maintaining consistent “distance”.
• Unlike platforms where active speakers dominate the screen.
• Preserves the feeling of sitting together in one shared space.

Why Hasn’t This Been Done Before?

Despite its simplicity, virtual glass is absent from mainstream platforms.

Possible reasons:

• Legacy design inertia — tools replicate in-person meetings rather than rethinking digital presence.
• Assumption that “more video = better engagement” — ignoring the fatigue it causes.
• Privacy as an afterthought — most platforms prioritize clarity over user comfort.
• The reluctance of large tech companies to conduct research into technologies that facilitate remote work.

From Virtual Glass to Frosted Privacy: A Natural Evolution

The core idea of virtual glass — controlled visibility — leads logically to frosted glass as a privacy feature:

1. Default privacy: Frosting maintains your presence without overexposure.
2. User control: You decide when to be seen clearly, reducing that “on display” feeling.
3. Gradual unfrosting: No surprises. You see when another meeting participant “approaches” you or glances at you.
4. Adjustable privacy: The degree of frosting depends on the size of the virtual glass.

This approach reflects interactions in the real world. In a physical space, you can sense a person’s presence without looking at them. Virtual frosted glass reproduces this subtlety.

Unlike artificial “background blur”, frosting serves a functional purpose — it enables sustained, comfortable co-presence.

Meeting participants behind virtual frosted glass in the MeetingGlass app

Why This Matters for Digital Communication

Traditional video platforms fail to replicate how humans naturally interact. Virtual glass bridges this gap by introducing mutual visibility, which is the foundation of natural interaction.

Unlike one-way video streams, virtual glass enforces:

• Reciprocal awareness (you only appear to those you can see)
• Equal visual weight (size and visibility) for all participants

Mutual visibility eliminates worry of being watched by those you can’t see yourself.

Displaying avatars instead of live video when camera is off in MeetingGlass app

The equal visual weight prevents:

• The “talking head” effect where one speaker dominates
• Visual hierarchy that discourages participation
• Unconscious bias toward more visible participants

Virtual glass facilitates better group communication:

• Mutual visibility encourages equal participation
• Equal size and visibility gives confidence to every member of the group

Virtual frosted glass makes it easy to hold long video meetings by reducing camera fatigue and eliminating the guilt of turning off the camera or the discomfort of leaving it on.

Try It Yourself

MeetingGlass brings this overlooked idea to life:

1. Install the app from the Microsoft Store.
2. Join a meeting in under a minute — no signups needed.

Experience virtual glass in action with frosted privacy!

Originally published at https://meetingglass.substack.com.