Here at OAC, Zoom is part of our daily work. We Zoom meetings with clients, we do our trainings over Zoom, and many of our interventions are designed to happen virtually so we talk about Zoom a lot during those Zoom meetings. Zoom has been a blessing in many ways, both as a business and training tool, but on the other hand, we have also become familiar with a relatively new experience called Zoom fatigue or that feeling of exhaustion that follows a day filled with multiple Zoom meetings. Since the continual use of Zoom is relatively new, there hasn’t been much empirical research published on Zoom fatigue.
In the 2021 article titled Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue, Jeremy N Bailenson from the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) offers four possible reasons why we might experience Zoom Fatigue. While there is no published empirical research to support these four possible causes of fatigue specifically on virtual platforms like Zoom, the following four factors are drawn from previous research.
Too Much Direct Eye Contact
Prolonged direct eye contact is usually something you save for those closest to you, yet on Zoom everyone – no matter how close or casual the relationship, is right there, up close and staring at you. In a face-to-face meeting people rarely spend the whole meeting in direct eye contact.
Working Harder for Nonverbal Cues
Not only are people working to interpret the nonverbal cues being sent by others in a Zoom meeting, but they also need to monitor their own nonverbals such as whether to look at the camera or the person speaking or making sure nonverbals are exaggerated enough to be seen but not so much as to appear as mocking or strange. There is a pattern to nonverbal communication in a face-to-face meeting that can be missing or harder to decipher in a virtual setting. In Zoom, people can receive fewer nonverbals which can disrupt the pattern and make interpretation of the nonverbals more difficult.
Staring at Yourself
The more Zoom time, the more time you end up staring at your own reflection. We tend to be our own harshest critic and studies have shown that staring at yourself in a mirror over the short term leads to self-focused attention, evaluation, and negative affect. No one has really looked at the long-term effects of staring at yourself for hours at a time.
Sitting Still
Between staying within the camera’s view and staying within the reach of the keyboard, people tend to sit close and stay still within a very narrow area. All movement is monitored either by yourself staring at your image or by others staring at their screen.
If you find yourself experiencing Zoom fatigue, the article notes the following may be helpful:
- Take Zoom out of the full screen mode to reduce the size of the attendees and sit back from your screen to give yourself some space
- Schedule breaks into meetings and during the break walk away from your screen for a moment
- Hide your self-view by right clicking your photo
- If you can’t schedule a walk away break, close your video and move for a moment while listening (stretch, grab some water, scratch an itch)
I highly recommend you read the article by Professor Bailenson as this is just a brief summary. He presents his argument in a clear and easy-to-read manner which includes the supporting research. You can find his article online here or click on the image above.
