During the pandemic, there were many former officials workers are necessarily glued to their computer monitors. As work migrated online, video tools like Zoom and Google Hangouts have become the rare outlet for regular timely with colleagues. But sa great alternative to seeing your co-workers in the road without a screen, all these video conferences have led to an ‘Zoom fatigue’ epidemic.
According to a new study by Stanford researchers published in the journal Technology, mind and behavior, Zoom fatigue is basically how it sounds – due to the increased stress of maintaining connections remotely through video chat-And this leads to burnout, tension, and monotony at work. But there are ways you can soften the stranglehold video conferencing can be up to you.
What is Zoom Fatigue?
This does not apply specifically to Zoom, and the company’s executives are likely to argue that the term renders their marketing efforts a bad service. According to Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, the issue applies to everyone video conferencing services. Gin general it describes the fatigue caused by the need to feel constantly on while jumping between different browser windows meetings. It also makes sense, given that studies have shown the increased screen time – especially when accompanied by a sedentary lifestyle – increases your opportunities to develop moderate to severe depression.
G / O Media can get a commission
If you suffer from this, you probably are usually drown in a heavy schedule of virtual meetings, and feeling as you can barely hold your head above water.
What cause it
Bailenson’s research suggests four reasons why video conferencing can be mentally stressful:
- Intense eye contact is tiring. Closing your colleagues’ eyes to show that you are paying attention can feel demanding. Doing this several times a day can feel oppressive. If your co-workers do not make joint eye contact throughout the meeting, you may think your attention is flagging.
- Watching yourself during video chats is tiring. Watching yourself in a meeting only increases performance anxiety. The psychological cost of living in the whole pandemic is heavy enough – why should you worry about what you look like to your colleagues?
- Video chats mean we move around less. If you are constantly handcuffed to a desk, you are not moving nearly as much as your body needs. At least in a traditional office environment, you may have to walk to a conference room on another floor. Switching between different video meetings means we sit more and move less, to the detriment of our spiritual well-being.
- Non-verbal cues are more difficult to interpret. The challenge of deciphering non-verbal cues only adds to the tension caused through video chats. This can lead to what Bailenson calls a ‘cognitive overload’, where your head may be swimming out of the conversation in the supposed subtext.
Ways to combat Zoom fatigue
Fortunately, Bailenson did not discover the problems without offering solutions.
- For eye contact: The researcher recommends that you do not use the full screen setting. This way, your colleagues will look at least a little smaller, so you do not feel so pressured to keep your eyes on theirs.
- For self-awareness: It’s not really needed to keep your camera on for every meeting. If you do not present something, what is the point of filming it yourself? If you need to keep your camera on, Bailenson recommends adjusting your settings so you can only see them the other person on the chat, instead of having both videos available to both parties. In the meantime, however, do not hesitate to turn off your camera.
- For mobility: Bailenson recommends that you get another camera that you can connect to your feed so that you can still move around and maybe be from a standing position if you feel so inclined. Another used to turn off your camera again and on wear bluetooth headphones so you can walk around your house or apartment.
- For anxiety about non-verbal cues: Turning off your camera also works well, but to further enhance it, the researcher recommends listening to the meeting away from your computer. This way, if you just use sound and feel comfortable attending the meeting while, say, put the dishes away, you will not worry about the analysis all the micro-indications that pop up frequently.