Ever since physical meetings became physically impossible, thanks to the Covid-19 virus, zoom meetings and work from home became the new staple. The office cubicles and conference rooms became strangers, while the study tables and coffee tables at home became an indispensable part of one’s career. People were provided with the comfort of working from their beds in their pajamas but still felt more tired than ever before. This issue arose worldwide, and a new term for this exhaustion took social media by storm- Zoom Fatigue.
What Is Zoom Fatigue?
Every individual working remotely via the means of video call has complained of a drop in productivity level and an increase in exhaustion levels at the same time. While all this must sound bizarre and totally opposite of the expected, scientific studies have shown that virtual interaction is hard for the brain. “There’s a lot of research that shows we actually really struggle with this,” says Andrew Franklin, an assistant professor of cyberpsychology at Virginia’s Norfolk State University. People get surprised at how difficult they’re finding video calls, provided that the medium is confined to a small screen and includes few obvious distractions. But then this is the mind-boggling phenomenon we have named Zoom Fatigue.
Scientific Reasons Behind Zoom Fatigue
1.Humans communicate even non-verbally. In an in-person conversation, the brain focuses partially on the words being spoken but also derives additional interpretation from non-verbal cues, such as someone facing you or slightly turned away, or hand gestures portraying their openness or friendliness. However, a video call impairs the ability to see these cues and requires sustained and intense attention to only the words.
- This leads to the need to maintain prolonged eye contact since it is the strongest facial cue available, and can feel threatening if held too long. A multi-person screen view magnifies this problem. The average ‘Gallery view’ confuses the brain’s central vision, forcing it to decode many people. As a result, it becomes harder to make sense of the ongoing conversation, even when solely a speaker is talking. “We’re engaged in numerous activities, but never fully devoting ourselves to focus on anything in particular,” says Franklin. Psychologists term this continuous partial attention. Consider trying to bake a cake and writing an article at the same time. This is the kind of multi-tasking the brain tries to perform during video calls.
3.The prolonged split in attention leads to a sense of being drained while completing no task perfectly. Alongside this, the lack of non-verbal cues and a physical presence tricks the body into believing the absence of a conversation but at the same time makes the brain process the conversation. This imbalance between the brain and the body acts as an additional stressor.
This issue has certainly increased the susceptibility of individuals to stress, exhaustion, and burnout. The issue becomes graver as people are unable to step out or take a social outing to rejuvenate themselves. Hence, it is advised to put in a little more effort into taking care of yourself during these times. The pandemic is hard enough. Don’t be too hard on yourself.
