Working executives and students experiencing Zoom fatigue leading to stigma

Over the past few months we are hearing about the “Zoom fatigue” which has popped up more and more on social media, and Google searches for the same phrase have steadily increased since early last year march where most of the working executives and students are undergoing the stigma.

Zoom fatigue” stems from how we process information over video. On a video call the only way to show we’re paying attention is to look at the camera. But, in real life, how often do you stand within three feet of a colleague and stare at their face? Probably never. This is because having to engage in a “constant gaze” makes us uncomfortable - and tired. In person, we are able to use our peripheral vision to glance out the window or look at others in the room. On a video call, because we are all sitting in different homes, if we turn to look out the window, we worry it might seem like we’re not paying attention.

Now the question is the causes of video call fatigue, and how you can stop them from draining your energy. Video chats are inherently unnatural. Both the amount of eye contact we engage in during video chats, as well as the size of faces on screens, is not something we would experience in normal face-to-face meetings.

The change in the behavior of people which we are seeing is a direct result of the social distancing measures that governments have introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic. However, some people argue that it paves the way for even more home working in the future. Companies that may not have facilitated working from home before have had to make it work and may keep it going forward. It is absolutely true on the potential for video call fatigue. In a normal meeting, people will move between looking at the speaker, taking notes, or looking elsewhere in the room. Whereas in a Zoom chat, everyone is constantly staring into the screen, dramatically increasing eye contact. Take Zoom out of full-screen mode or reduce the size of the app windows to make faces appear smaller on-screen, and sit further away from the screen.

No wonder, then, that seeing ourselves on video chats multiple times a day is so exhausting. "It's taxing on us. It's stressful. And there's lots of research showing that there are negative emotional consequences to seeing yourself in a mirror. The solution could be by creating more space between yourself and the camera. Get an external keyboard if you're using a laptop, and think about the space you're video calling in. You can also turn off the camera if you want to move around a bit. This is massively taxing on our brains, which has to work overtime to send and receive nonverbal signals from others.