Throughout the pandemic, many old offices workers have necessarily been glued to their computer monitors. As a job migrated online, Video tools like Zoom and Google Hangouts have become the rarest outlet to regulate face-to-face time with classmates. But the sAn alternative to seeing coworkers without a screen, all this video conferencing has caused an epidemic of “zoom fatigue”.
According to a new study by Stanford researchers published in the journal Technology, mind and behavior, Zoom fatigue is basically what it sounds like, resulting from the increased tension of keeping connections remote via video chat-And this causes exhaustion, stress, i monotony at work. But there are ways to mitigate suffocation video conferencing can affect you.
What is zoom fatigue?
It doesn’t specifically apply to Zoom, and company executives would probably argue that the term hurts their marketing efforts. According to Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, the topic applies to everyone video conferencing services. Gin general terms, it describes the fatigue caused by need to feel permanently turned on as you switch between browser windows for multiple online connections meetings. It also makes sense, given that studies have shown which increases viewing time, especially when combined with a sedentary lifestyle, increases your time probabilities of developing moderate to severe depression.
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If you suffer from this, it is probably normal drowning an intense program of virtual meetings, and feel as can hardly be maintained head over water.
What it causes it
Bailenson’s research points to four reasons why video conferencing can be so mentally etching:
- Intense eye contact is tired. If you talk to your colleagues to show that you are paying attention, you may find it demanding. Doing this several times a day can be oppressive. Failing to make arranged eye contact for much of the meeting may make your co-workers think your attention is on the line.
- Watching each other during video chats is tiring. Observing yourself in a meeting only increases performance anxiety. The psychological cost of living throughout the pandemic is heavy enough, why complicate it with worrying about looking at your colleagues?
- Video chats mean we move less. If you’re constantly tied to a desk, you won’t move nearly as much as your body needs. At least in a traditional office environment you may have to walk to a conference room on a different floor. Switching between different video meetings means we feel more and move less, to the detriment of our mental well-being.
- Nonverbal cues are more difficult to interpret. The challenge of deciphering nonverbal cues only adds to the stress caused via video chat. This can lead to what Bailenson calls a “cognitive overload,” where the head could swim in a supposed subtext of the conversation.
Ways to combat fatigue by zooming
Luckily, Bailenson did not discover the problems without offering solutions.
- By eye contact: The researcher recommends not using full screen settings. That way, your colleagues will at least look a little smaller, so you won’t feel so pressured to keep your eyes fixed on theirs.
- By self-awareness: It really isn’t necessary to keep the camera turned on at every meeting. If you don’t present something, what’s the point of filming yourself? If you need to keep the camera turned on, Bailenson recommends adjusting the settings just for you to see the other person in the chat, instead of having both videos available for both parties. In the meantime, though, feel free to turn off the camera.
- For mobility: Bailenson recommends getting a different camera that you can link to your feed so you can move around and maybe present yourself from the standing position if you feel so tilted. Another is resorted to turn the camera off again and a use bluetooth headphones to walk around the house or apartment.
- For anxiety about nonverbal cues: Turning off the camera also works well, but to further reinforce it, the researcher recommends listening to the meeting away from the computer. That way, if you only use audio and feel comfortable attending the meeting while, for example, saving the dishes, you won’t have to worry about analyzing too much all micro-indications that appear routinely.