Zoom Fatigue is real, here's what you can do to deal with it

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When COVID-19 hit, people's lives changed. I think we underestimate how different our lives are today compared to before the outbreak. One of the biggest changes we have all had to adapt to is the sudden shift to working from home.

As a consequence of these rapid lifestyle changes, video conferencing has replaced social interaction in offices. Meetings, quick calls to assign work, a small team catch up etc. Professor Jeremy Bailenson of the Standford Virtual Human Interaction Lab has now found that spending hours in front of a monitor attending these meetings may actually tire you out. It's something they call 'Zoom Fatigue'.

What is Zoom Fatigue? 

Zoom Fatigue gets it name from the phenomenon known as "Zooming", which like "Googling" has become the popular cultural slang for a video conference call. Zoom gets an unwanted spotlight here purely because of its popularity, your organisation may or may not Zoom but what we talk about here applies to video conferencing in general, so just keep that in mind.

With that out of the way, what exactly is Zoom Fatigue? Researchers at Stanford have identified that long hours spent on video conferencing platforms may tire you out more than you actually think. Prolonged video chats tend to drain you mentally and physically and there are several reasons why this may be the case. Professor Bailenson identified four of the most common symptoms of Zoom fatigue.

Social Anxiety

When was the last time you went up on a stage in front of an audience? If it was your first time, you likely felt a sense of anxiety. Those butterflies at the pit of your stomach that come from staring out at a crowd is comparable to the anxiety you might feel when attending a Zoom call. It can be mentally exhausting to be put in a position where people stare at you constantly and unfortunately that's exactly how video calls operate.

The current interface that is widely adapted across various conferencing platforms is a 8x8 grid of squares filled with faces of your colleagues. The amount of eyes staring at you puts you in a mindset comparable to when you are staring at an audience from the stage. It can be stressful and tiring.

Professor Bailenson recommends that you don't take zoom calls in full screen and reduce the size of the window to a scale that is relative to your monitor. If you are on a laptop, use an external keyboard to distance yourself and create a 'personal space' between you and the grid.

Seeing yourself constantly can be tiring

The second problem that long video calls tend to have is the phenomena of vanity. When you are staring at people during a call, you are also staring at yourself in the small little window that platforms usually have open in the bottom right. This isn't natural. Think about it, when you are talking to someone, you are not looking at yourself.

Humans tend to have vanity issues in general and a lot of us are very self-critical when it comes to the way we look. This effect multiplied when you are looking at your face during long calls. It's a taxing and stressful experience.

It is recommended that you turn off your viewing pane during long conference calls. Professor Bailenson also recommends that video communication services consider changing the default practice of beaming the video to others and self only when it requires to be sent one way.

You can't be mobile during video chats

Most video chats are conducted on a desktop or a laptop. This is fine when its a short catch-up call but during longer video meetings, you tend to be stuck at one place staring at a screen.

This is a problem because it contradicts how humans naturally behave when they hold a conversation. In-person and audio chats give you the freedom to move around a bit but video chats require you to be in the field of view of the camera.

It is best if you turn off the video at small intervals during a long meeting to give yourself a break and the chance to move around a bit.

Your brain works harder during video chats

In normal day-to-day conversation with a person, you may have noticed that you communicate both verbally and non-verbally. It is natural for us to interpret signs, gestures and non-verbal cues subconsciously, so much so that you don't even think about it.

These signals are part of what makes conversing face-to-face easier. During video chats, you will quickly find that you will not have this advantage. You can feel yourself working harder during communication. There is also the problem of signals or gestures being misinterpreted during a video chat. A small thing such as sideway glance can mean something else entirely during a video call.

Your brain has to constantly be active, filtering signals that usually happen subconsciously to make sure we are sending the right message during the video chat.

To avoid this, give yourself an audio only break from time to time. Turn off video and turn your body away from the screen while you speak or take notes. It will provide your brain a much needed breather from having to interpret signals that normally happen without even thinking.