TORONTO: The influx of virtual meetings may not be the only factor causing “zoom fatigue” in millions of people potentially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a group of American researchers, the very design of video conferencing applications could also end you.
Technology like Zoom, which went from 10 million users to more than 300 million in a matter of months last year, imposes physical restrictions on users, requires greater cognitive work, can be an “all-day mirror” and forces everyone to look at each other.
The physiological effects that group these factors together can be exhausting, according to researchers at Stanford University in California, who have launched a new online study to measure fatigue by zooming.
“Zoom’s interface design constantly surrounds everyone’s faces, regardless of who is speaking,” writes Jeremy N. Bailenson, a communications professor at Stanford University, in a new article published in the journal Technology, Mind and Behavior.
“From a perceptual point of view, Zoom effectively transforms listeners into speakers and turns everyone off with the look of their eyes”
THE “EYE-GAZE DANCE”
In a typical environment, people do not look each other in the eye for so long. Think of a lift or a trip on Uber. We have developed social rules that make it right to avoid your gaze for an extended period of time.
In a meeting environment, people tend to use eye contact in moderation, said Jeff Hancock, founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab.
“The conversation is really like a dance look,” he told CTVNews.ca on Zoom on Wednesday. Often, people make eye contact, recognize the connection, look the other way, and return again at different intervals, in part because staring causes physiological arousal and awakens the nervous system.
THE “MIRROR OF THE WHOLE DAY”
Video conferencing applications also require a greater “cognitive load”, meaning users send and receive more signals than in normal settings, including the need to frame the camera, given the volume of the voice. and offering more physical reactions like nodding a speaker.
While they may require more physical considerations, Zoom meetings also require less of us physically and can feel moderate, the researchers said. There are no marches around a room, breaks for water coolers or other movements that research has shown can lead to better performance in meetings. Instead, we stick to the “frustum” of viewing, the specific space in which the webcam frames the user.
Perhaps one of the biggest tensions for some video conferencing app users is what Stanford researchers called a kind of “all-day mirror.” The default setting in video applications like Zoom is to show the user a view from their own camera. Seeing this can have positive results, said Hancock, who pointed to a study where researchers put a mirror in front of a bowl of candy and found that people drank more candy when there was no mirror.
“Sometimes remembering who we are and what we try to be (a good human being) can be valuable. But over time, if we constantly look at ourselves in the mirror, this can lead us to questions about “I don’t look the way I want to look,” “I’m not who I want to be.” It reminds us that we are not that ideal version, ”Hancock said.
FATIGUE REDUCTION
There are some built-in strategies that video conferencing users can use to reduce the impact of zoom fatigue, according to researchers, such as the “Hide self-view” button to avoid the “mirror all day” effect. Researchers also recommend using an external webcam and keyboard to allow more screen space and vary seating settings. They also suggest using the audio-only feature in apps or just grabbing your phone when video isn’t needed.
“Phone calls have boosted productivity and social connection for many decades and only a minority of calls require looking into someone else’s face to communicate successfully,” Bailenson wrote.
As part of the new online study, the Bailenson and Hancock team have developed a new framework for measuring Zoom fatigue in hopes that they can determine if any of these strategies improve user notification of fatigue. of Zoom.