We’re all familiar now with the concept of Zoom fatigue – that inexplicable exhaustion you get when all you’ve been doing is sitting in front of a webcam all day for work meetings. How can sitting at a desk be so tiring?
Over the past few weeks, researchers have been documenting the range of reasons why we find video meetings much more tiring than real life ones. Some of the more common reasons include:
The stress of having to appear interested and giving full attention to others on-screen, which means sustaining eye contact beyond what usual face-to-face communication would demand.
The distraction of having multiple speakers and backgrounds visible at once in a tessellation of boxes, which causes the brain to firstly scour each box for visual clues and then process each of them as distinct sources of information.
The difficulty of fully understanding meaning when non-verbal cues such as body language and positioning, gestures, posture, and tone are trickier to pick up.
The absence of a physical space (such as a boardroom or boss’ office) to guide roles, status and context, which leaves the brain free to fill in gaps and make guesses at relational dynamics, particularly if the call is with people you haven’t met before.
The unfamiliar speaking patterns required, including the confusion of knowing whose turn it is to talk next, the difficulty of interrupting without appearing awkward, the strain of remaining conscious of when you are muted, and the inability for multiple people to talk at once, which leads to “group monologuing” rather than true dialogue.
The impact of technical problems, particularly missing pieces of crucial sense-making information (or having to repeat them for others) due to bad audio, frozen screens, wi-fi dropouts, or screen sharing tools not working.
The anxiety of allowing colleagues to see inside your home, including the possibility of being judged by others, the desire to curate a more perfect backdrop, and the hyper-frequent checking of your own webcam to make sure you look professional.
The jarring feeling of your body remaining physically in the same space for every meeting, but your brain needing to constantly switch to new contexts, without the physical travel time providing a mental break in between.
The discomfort of blurring work and home spaces, where work, rest and play all occur in one nondemarcated environment, such that even online happy hour with friends seems not so fun, because it happens at your work desk.
These stressors are building a level of unacknowledged fatigue, which are becoming ingrained in our new work patterns – patterns that are likely to continue well beyond the pandemic. As more work gets done from home, we will need to consciously design our work days to avoid preventable fatigue, which affects our concentration, judgement and impact as leaders.
So what can be done about it? We think there are five sensible strategies you can follow to maximise the productive benefits of video conferencing, but also make it work for us as human beings.
1. Limit video calls
Video doesn’t have to be your default. We used to have perfectly productive catch-ups with clients, suppliers and colleagues via telephone. Save video calls for when you need to present data, work on a problem together, or connect meaningfully – and put a firm limit on the number of video calls you are prepared to take per day.
2. Shorten video calls
Video meetings are nearly always too long. For routine meetings, don’t run video calls for a full hour, when a 45 minute meeting encourages sharper dialogue and allows participants to have a 15 minute break afterwards. Break up longer meetings into shorter, workable chunks, or build in a break mid-meeting. If possible, try never to do video calls back-to-back – it’s exhausting for the eyes, bad for your posture, and the brain deserves a rest from all the visual processing.
3. Choose your space
Where you take video calls matters. Your physical environment has a big effect on fatigue. If possible, take calls near a window or mirror that bounces around natural light. Pick a spot that has minimal background noise, choose a comfortable chair, and put your screen at eye height to keep your back and neck straight. If you are presenting or running the meeting, try doing it standing up, like you would if presenting at a face-to-face meeting. Standing up when presenting feels more natural and gives you a sense of control. If you are not presenting and will only be listening, try walking during the call to increase levels of alertness.
4. Minimise on-screen stimulation
Avoid over-stimulating the brain during a video call. In a real-life meeting you wouldn’t be surfing the net, scrolling your feed, or looking at yourself, so resist the temptation to do so during video calls. Your brain just can’t keep up with all the stimulus. Once your video calls are done for the day, make a point of doing things that don’t rely on a screen. That might mean putting the phone, computer games or TV watching on hold, and turning instead to a paperback book, outdoor exercise, or a non-tech hobby.
5. Get trained
Learn how to run a video call effectively. There is an art to running productive meetings and workshops online, and it’s a completely different skillset to running them face-to-face. Making them non-tiring, engaging, and as productive as real life is possible, but requires training.
To that end, consider joining our Online Facilitation Essentials training course to rapidly extend your digital literacy and pick up some useful tips on how to craft effective online workshop agendas, run virtual team work sessions, curate inspiring digital content, and boost your confidence and polish when speaking and presenting online.
Ultimately, the message is to forgive yourself for finding video calls tiring – all leaders are human, and there are legitimate biological reasons why the brain gets fatigued with all the stimulation. Instead, choose to design your day with the advice above in mind – it will certainly make your work from home experience more productive and enjoyable.
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