Posted On 13 Mar 2021
Over the last 12 months Zoom has gone from being something many people were only vaguely aware off to a virtually ubiquitous feature in most people’s homes.
There is no denying that it has been a useful tool both for business and for families and friends trying to stay in touch, however new research out of Stamford University has shown that too much zooming can lead to a form of burnout, named by the researchers “Zoom fatigue”. Whilst many people may regard this condition as being basically exhaustion caused by the stress of the global pandemic, the researchers warn that many are in danger of overlooking four elements that could be Zoom-specific.
Firstly, there can be fatigue caused by excessive eye contact. In a normal business meeting, we tend to glance occasionally at the faces of those we are listening to, but most of the time we will be looking down, jotting down notes. During Zoom calls, we often feel obliged to keep looking at the face of whoever’s talking to show we are paying attention, as they can’t see our notepad and might think we are just bored. The problem with this is that the brain regards the face on the screen as being out of kilter with reality, and this leads to stress and tiredness. The researchers suggest that reducing the size of the image on your screen could help with this, as could using an external keyboard to take notes.
Secondly, many people don’t like seeing their own image, particularly in live video. Many people can experience negative emotions when they see themselves on screen during Zoom calls, feeling self-conscious, exposed and isolated. It is suggested that the best way of avoiding this is to set your Zoom screen only to show the people you’re talking to and no image of yourself.
Thirdly, when we make video calls, we don’t have much movement at all. If you’re talking on the phone or with one other person face-to-face, you can move around, even if it’s just shifting your chair a few inches as you talk. Many people feel constrained on Zoom to remain directly in front of the camera; researchers propose that you should set your camera further away from yourself, so you have more space to move around in without disappearing off the screen.
Finally, people become exhausted on Zoom because it involves a whole vocabulary of non-verbal communication that differs from that we are used to in normal physical encounters, which leads to overthinking. You have a restricted view of those you were talking to, and you can easily miss or misinterpret body language and facial expressions due to the limitations of camera quality and screen size. To avoid this, the researchers suggest that it might be desirable to switch off video where possible and just talk over audio.
