Video conferencing tools have become the standard platforms for socially distanced interaction, especially for many people who once worked in offices. Some businesses are now making commitments to offer teleworking as an option, even after the pandemic ended. But after more than a year of living and working online, society is grappling with the unique exhaustion, nicknamed “Zoom Fatigue”, that follows a long day of video conferencing.
New research published today provides some of the first grounded conclusions about Zoom fatigue and provides a broad overview of the causes. It also shows that the weight of Zoom fatigue is not evenly distributed. In a survey of more than 10,000 people, described online today on the research sharing platform known as SSRN, women experienced on average about 13.8 percent more Zoom fatigue than men.
The first author Géraldine Fauville, an expert in virtual reality and communication at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, says that one role of science is to help identify these kinds of inequalities, ‘and then, on the basis of science, the society and knowledge to address these issues. ”
For example, her team’s work shows that long days full of calls with a few breaks can cause Zoom fatigue. The self-viewing video, the crowd of faces on the screen, the expectation to stay in the face of the camera, and the lack of non-verbal cues also burden the brain. By knowing what is causing the problem, there are steps that both managers and technology creators can take to alleviate the burden.
A year of adjustment
There is no doubt that remote work has the benefits: no commuting, flexibility to handle household chores and easy access to conferences for all workers, including the disabled. Telework has also made critical work possible with pandemics. In San Francisco, Andrea Nickerson trains COWID-19 investigators – the people who do contact detection – through weekly classes on Zoom.
On a busy day, she can spend five or six hours on video conferencing. It’s rare that she does not have one at all. “At the end of the day, it’s the thing I most want to do, just close my computer and put it in a place where I don’t even have to look at my computer,” Nickerson says.
As people began to engage in widespread discussions about Zoom fatigue, scientists specializing in the interaction between people and technology began to study the phenomenon seriously.
First, they created a tool to measure fatigue, which they call the Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale (ZEF). They then compiled a public survey and collected more than 10,000 responses that measured the fatigue of people on the ZEF scale, along with statistics on how long each person spent on Zoom and demographic information.
The data confirmed what many may have suspected: Spending more time on video calls, with less transition time between each call, will cause more Zoom fatigue. The results also identified four factors that counters face when using video conferencing.
First, the lack of non-verbal cues is stressful because people cannot naturally convey or interpret gestures and body language when only their colleagues’ shoulders and heads are visible. People may be compensating too much by exaggerating their own gestures, such as picking up a dramatic thumb while struggling to understand the moods of their colleagues.
During video calls, people report that they are trapped in one place so that they can stay within the view of the webcam, which increases the stress levels.
Many video conferencing tools usually show users their own video space, and the researchers found that this constant, real-time reflection can cause mirroring. This condition is a stressful self-awareness that causes distraction and is linked to increased anxiety and depression.
Finally, the newspaper describes ‘hypergaze’, an intense feeling that the other people you are calling are staring at you, because the video conference show shows that everyone is looking at their cameras, no matter who their focus is. It’s even worse in one-on-one meetings, when your colleague’s face appears so large on the screen, it’s like they’re less than two feet away.
“This kind of physical proximity mimicked by video conferencing is considered by the brain to be a situation that can lead to mating or conflict,” says Fauville. “It’s very intense for the brain.”
Differences and contradictions
According to the survey, women spent more time per day in meetings, with shorter interruptions between them, than men. They also reported higher levels of mirroring and feel more captivated by their video calls – the two strongest predictors of high Zoom fatigue.
“Previous researchers have shown this [mirror anxiety] seems to apply more to women than men. It is also one of the reasons why we decided to look at gender, ”says Fauville. But about why women feel more trapped during calls, she says, ‘we do not know. And it’s kind of the next step in understanding the roots of these mechanisms. ”
The survey also showed that coloreds tended to report higher Zoom fatigue than white people, although the effect is much smaller than the difference that offsets gender.
The paper has not yet been reviewed by a peer, but it is “excellent methodological … it is based on a very sound theory,” said Rabindra Ratan, an expert in human-technology interaction at Michigan State University. who were not involved in the study.
There are still many questions about the psychological consequences of teleworking and connecting with others via video conferencing. To date, there is little data-supported research on how people with disabilities have been affected, for example, by the widespread use of telework. Because the ZEF scale is freely available to other scientists and is being translated into more languages, Fauville hopes researchers will be able to apply it to their own future research.
Flexibility and connectivity
At least it seems to be beneficial to use this kind of technology to work from home, anecdotally.
Ratan moved to California during the pandemic because he could do virtually research and classes. Both he and Fauville also found it easier to work with international colleagues during the pandemic because people no longer feel uncomfortable starting long-distance conversations.
For many, the benefits of working remotely go beyond newfound ease. The destigmatization of remote work means that Zahra Khan, a systems engineer in Southern California, was able to find a remote job that allows her to deal with the symptoms of her disability, affecting her hearing and energy levels. Khan uses video calls for about three or four hours a day on Google Hangouts, which provides automatic captions. She also has the flexibility to take medication or rest if needed.
“It was much better to manage my energy levels, manage my health symptoms and even stay hydrated,” says Khan. “And it was something I wanted at my last job, but it was not available.”
The speed with which employers found out last year how to offer remote workspaces led to the emergence of the “DisabledAndSaltyAFHashtag on Twitter. People with disabilities used the hashtag to tell stories of times employers pushed them out of their workplaces by refusing to provide work remotely as an accessible accommodation. The move to remote work during the pandemic seems to be proof that the accommodation could be provided all the time.
People are now worried about what might happen if restrictions are lifted and people without disabilities feel comfortable going out in person again.
“Once things ‘start normally’, a lot of this can go away, ” Khan said. “And it’s very scary.”
Solutions for the future
In the future, employers may take a hybrid approach when it is safe to work in person again. Office culture can be more accommodating, allowing some people to physically attend meetings while others join by video or phone. And the new findings suggest solutions that workers and managers can use to prevent Zoom fatigue.
Fauville has acquired a standing desk to reduce the feeling of being trapped by allowing more natural movement while calling videos. To reduce eye strain, which is one measurable effect of Zoom fatigue on the ZEF scale, Nickerson uses an orange filter on her screen.
But Fauville emphasizes that “the responsibility not to address individuals should place Zoom fatigue on, as it may exacerbate inequality.”
Instead, the researchers hope that employers will use the results to develop standard policies that protect everyone from Zoom fatigue. This may require one day a week to be video call free, require ten minute buffers between meetings, or carefully consider what tool to use for a meeting. Sometimes video conferencing is the best tool because it provides automated captions, screen sharing or a social presence. But often a call, text message or email is sufficient.
Video conferencing companies can also change their tools to reduce Zoom fatigue.
“The easiest solution is to make it so that the self-mode is not as prominent,” says Jeremy Bailenson, lead author of the SSRN study and founder of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. He suggests that the self-esteem should disappear by default after a few seconds to reduce mirror length.
Bailenson adds that video conferencing companies can also address hypergas by calculating the perceived distance between the user and their video call partner, and then limiting the maximum screen size of the heads on the screen.
Zoom fatigue can plague remote workers, especially women and people of color, depending on the choices businesses make to prevent it, Ratan says. But he adds that people seem to be accepting counting more than ever before.
‘We have been pushed forward perhaps ten years in terms of advances in the use of some of these remote work and education and healthcare technologies in general. So I think society is ready for this. ”