... About Video Call Fatigue

Being on a video call requires more focus than a face-to-face chat. Video chats mean we need to work harder to process non-verbal cues like facial expressions, the tone and pitch of the voice, and body language; paying more attention to these consumes a lot of energy. 

“Our minds are together when our bodies feel we're not. That dissonance, which causes people to have conflicting feelings, is exhausting. You cannot relax into the conversation naturally,” says Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at Insead. 

Silence is another challenge, he adds. “Silence creates a natural rhythm in a real-life conversation. However, when it happens in a video call, you became anxious about the technology.” It also makes people uncomfortable. One 2014 study by German academics showed that delays on phone or conferencing systems shaped our views of people negatively. Even delays of 1.2 seconds made people perceive the responder as less friendly or focused.

It’s also very hard for people not to look at their own face if they can see it on screen, or not to be conscious of how they behave in front of the camera. And our current circumstances— whether lockdown, quarantine, working from home or otherwise— are also feeding in. “What I'm finding is, we’re all exhausted; It doesn't matter whether they are introverts or extroverts. We are experiencing the same disruption of the familiar context during the pandemic,” says Petriglieri.

Then there’s the fact that aspects of our lives that used to be separate, like work, friends, and family, are all now happening in the same space. Self-complexity theory posits that individuals have multiple aspects— context-dependent social roles, relationships, activities and goals— and when these aspects are reduced, we become more vulnerable to negative feelings.

“Most of our social roles happen in different places, but now the context has collapsed,” says Petriglieri. “Imagine if you go to a bar, and in the same bar you talk with your professors, meet your parents or date someone, isn’t it weird? That's what we're doing now… We are confined in our own space, in the context of a very anxiety-provoking crisis, and our only space for interaction is a computer window.”

So how can we alleviate Zoom fatigue? 

1. Building transition periods in between video meetings can help refresh us— by stretching, having a drink or doing a bit of exercise. Boundaries and transitions are important; we need to create buffers which allow us to put one identity aside and then go to another as we move between work and private personas.

2. Experts also suggest limiting video calls to those that are necessary. Turning on the camera should be optional and in general there should be more understanding that cameras do not always have to be on throughout each meeting. Having your screen off to the side, instead of straight ahead, could also help your concentration, particularly in group meetings. 

3. Associate Professor Marissa Shuffler, who studies workplace wellbeing, suggests taking time during meetings to catch up before diving into business. “Spend some time to actually check into people's wellbeing,” she urges. “It’s a way to reconnect us with the world, and to maintain trust and reduce fatigue and concern.”

**This article comes from Neurochild Community, based in Sydney, Australia.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1071581914000287

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1986-03748-001

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting