Thank you, Stanford University, for bringing a legit academic study to demonstrate what we’ve all come to feel over the last year and a half: Zoom is just wearing us out.
The benefits of this accessible, easy-to-use video conferencing platform are undeniable. I started a weekly family Zoom call last spring as a way to keep my eye on my isolated and elderly family members during the pandemic. I recorded many of the calls, anticipating that by mid-2021, we might lose my dad and these could be a last opportunity to reminisce and create a record of some of his legendary family stories.
For many of us, the less-than-totally productive in-person meetings at work simply shifted to the same loss of productivity while sitting at a computer. The pandemic meant -for many people- a happy shift to working from home (goodbye commuting traffic) and a learned patience and compassion for the life-is-going-on elements of working from home. Crying babies, barking dogs and the Amazon delivery interruptions have taught us to just chill for a minute and embrace the humanity.
For me, it’s my son’s cat perching himself of the back of my chair during a call. I can be making a very serious point, but with a black kitty cat tail swirling across my head and often down my forehead, there’s only one option … lighten up.
The good folks at Stanford took a look at this and discover four specific reasons why Zoom is exhausting us and happily they suggest solutions for the problems caused.
1) Excessive amounts of close-up eye contact is highly intense. None of us would typically spend hours face to face with our colleagues – no matter how attractive they are or how much we like them. This setup means that when you roll your eyes, everyone can see it – so it’s poker face all day – that’s unnatural for me.
Solution: Reduce the size of Zoom on your screen. You don’t have to devote your entire monitor space to your coworkers.
2) Seeing yourself during video chats constantly in real-time is fatiguing. Would you choose to watch yourself all day? If the answer’s “yes”, that’s an entirely different problem! The answer here is really, really simple …
Solution: Choose the “hide self-view” option. You may be required to be in the meeting, but you’re not required to watch yourself.
3) Video chats dramatically reduce our usual mobility.Well, sure, but in this case, it’s working that reduces your mobility. I’ve worked from home for many years and I know that while it is tempting to get up and do household chores (laundry, cooking) there’s also an overlooked temptation … that of working for extended periods of time without getting up to stretch and refresh. These things are NECESSARY to retaining your health – a good blood pressure, healthy eyesight and a healthy back. You’re NOT attached to that desk and keyboard.
Solution: Turn off the video from time to time and get up and pace around a bit. As a migraine sufferer, I can attest to the risk of not taking prevention seriously.
4) The cognitive load is much higher in video chats. Your brain is taking in a LOT during these calls and when we generically talk about “not having the bandwidth” for something, that’s a real thing. We’re not accustomed to managing ourselves onscreen as though on a television show eight hours a day.
Solution: Switch to audio-only during extended periods of calls and turn your face away from your monitor, too. Even a few minutes of relief from the stimulus can be helpful.
Stanford continues to study the effects of video conferencing on how humans work together. I’m glad for this. Our time on this earth is brief. Wasting it in commuter traffic was a soul-crushing thing for me and is among the reasons I very much prefer working from home.
Now, back to kitten videos on Facebook!
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97-9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines