A Zoomed-in Look into Our Fatigue

Oct 24

Introduction

It’s 9:55 AM. As you blurrily read the time on your phone, you realize that you have 5 minutes to get to your class. Feeling panicky, you get a sudden epiphany. All you need to do is open your laptop and voilà, you reach college. Getting up late hasn’t felt this good in long.

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Despite not moving an inch from our laptops, we feel quite lethargic and drained towards the end of the day. You press the “Leave Meeting” option to hop into another one, and at the end, you find yourself irritated and tired.

Zoom Fatigue is a term that has been making rounds now due to the shift to the digital to make ends meet during this pandemic. A platform used earlier by 10 million people saw a surge with about 300 million using it by April 2020. As more people log in to connect with others this lockdown, the technology is disrupting our normal intricate human communication methods.[i]

How did we communicate before this “new normal”?

Humans communicate using a range of gestures, movements and timed vocalisations. They rely on these responses from others to determine if the message is received. This is known as Synchrony. [ii]Further, as social animals, we depend on gestures such as proximity, hugs, handshakes, and locking eyes with someone.[iii] This gives us a sense of acceptance and belonging. However, most of them are activities we need to refrain from now due to the pandemic.

Our communication systems have evolved to understand non-verbal cues like facial expressions, the tone, pitch of the voice, and our body language. Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at INSEAD says, "On video calls, our minds are together when our bodies feel we’re not. That dissonance, which causes people to have conflicting feelings, is exhausting.”[iv]

Studies of biochemical reactions that occur while communicating by text, social media and telephone suggest “we get more biochemical bang during face-to-face contact because it offers a richer stream of social signals.” These studies show that face to face conversations result in the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which is linked to feelings of pleasure. Oxytocin, a byproduct of synchrony helps reduce anxiety, build trust and be cooperative among other benefits.[v]

Though we have tried to replace face to face communication with the closest technology possible, communication suffers. As we keep staring at the little boxes, non-verbal cues cannot be caught as the frames are limited to our faces. Imagine having a person stand as close to you as your laptop is. It is unnerving to have a person’s face enlarged in your space which our brains can register as threatening that leads to a flood of stress hormones.[vi]

So what changed in the way we communicate now?

Lack of synchrony

While it appears that things are happening in real-time online, there is a delay between the message sent and received. Our brains register this as an issue and work harder to overcome it to try to restore this synchrony. (Jiang, M. (2020)

Khamosh on screen - not as cinematic as it looked like

Silence due to the delay leads to the perception that the recipients aren’t focussed on being friendly – when that isn’t the case.

Distractions - there are way too many

Many video conferencing programs have a chat function that allows you to share links, ideas and points. (Wiederhold, B. K. (2020)) This feature acts as a distraction from the verbal communication that is happening on screen. Further, it’s tempting to check emails or scroll through the hundred social media apps that we have.

Performance Pressure

These programmes let us see ourselves on screen. There is also the pressure to perform as we are aware that everybody is looking at us Research shows that when you’re on video, you tend to spend the most time gazing at your own face.[vii].It would feel like staring at a mirror the whole day, leading to possible body image issues to crop up.

Too many things to focus on

Moreover, as you look at others, you tend to focus on their backgrounds as well. The brain has to process all of these visual environmental cues together. (Fosslien, L., & Duffy, M. W. (2020)) These meetings can also feel intrusive as you let strangers, acquaintances to have a peek into your house.[viii]Technology can be frustrating when you have to jump between screens to share videos, documents and files.

Eye Fatigue

We also find ourselves spending more time around devices leading to “digital eye strain”. One of the more common symptoms of digital eye strain is eye fatigue, which is thought to result from eye dryness due to a reduced blink rate and the angle at which one views their screens.[ix]

Our New Normal cannot replace what was there before

Petriglieri believes that “The video call is our reminder of the people we have lost temporarily. It is the distress that every time you see someone online, such as your colleagues that reminds you we should be in the workplace together.”

"There’s the fact that aspects of our lives that used to be separate — work, friends, family — are all now happening in the same space. The self-complexity theory posits that individuals have multiple aspects — context-dependent social roles, relationships, activities and goals – and we find the variety healthy," says Petriglieri. When these aspects are reduced, we become more vulnerable to negative feelings.

How can we make communication fun instead of tiring?

With the pandemic still happening, platforms like Zoom, GMeet, Teams, etc are here to stay. What we can do is fight the zoom fatigue with some simple techniques that help us feel a little more human.

For starters,

1. By avoiding multitasking, we could increase productivity. Research shows that trying to do multiple things at once cuts into performance by up to 40 per cent.( Fosslien, L., & Duffy, M. W. (2020))

2. By building in breaks between calls, taking time away from the screen at regular intervals can help reduce eye fatigue.

3. Most of these platforms have the option to put in a virtual background. Choose a plain one so that our brains don't tire out.

4. We could try to keep zoom to a minimum instead of treating it as a default opinion.

5. Fixing work hours for ourselves helps us be more mindful of taking a break after the hours are over

6. Normalize saying "no" to calls/events beyond work hours for mental health reasons.

7. Balancing screen time with a mix of non-screen activities such as dancing, drawing, and even looking out of the window can help us feel more fresh.

8. Get sleep. Tonnes of it.

References

[i] Wiederhold, B. K. (2020). Connecting through technology during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Avoiding “Zoom Fatigue”.

[ii]Morris, B. (2020, May 27). Why Does Zoom Exhaust You? Science Has an Answer. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-does-zoom-exhaust-you-science-has-an-answer-11590600269

[iii] Pinker, S. (2020, April 2). The Science of Staying Connected. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-science-of-staying-connected-11585835999

[iv] Jiang, M. (2020). The reason Zoom calls drain your energy. Testo disponibile al sito: https://-www. bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting

[v] Bartz, J. A., Zaki, J., Bolger, N., & Ochsner, K. N. (2011). Social effects of oxytocin in humans: context and person matter. Trends in cognitive sciences, 15(7), 301-309.

[vi] Wiederhold, B. K. (2020). Connecting through technology during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: Avoiding “Zoom Fatigue”.

[vii] Fosslien, L., & Duffy, M. W. (2020). How to combat zoom fatigue. Harvard Business Review.

[viii]Reinach Wolf, C. (2020). Virtual Platforms Are Helpful Tools but Can Add to Our Stress. Psychology Today. Retrieved 24 October 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-desk-the-mental-health-lawyer/202005/virtual-platforms-are-helpful-tools-can-add-our-stress.

[ix] Wong, M. (2020, August 4). Managing Zoom Fatigue. Faculty Learning Hub. https://tlconestoga.ca/zoom-fatigue/