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How to Beat Zoom Fatigue

Latest update on by Bob Dijks .

Today we use video conferencing tools more and more, partly because of the pandemic and remote work, and partly because it seems easier, faster and more efficient. However, video calls can lead us to a new type of tiredness – Zoom fatigue, the term that showed up in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and which still stays with us. Multiple Zoom or Google Meet calls during the day provoke eye strain, sleep deprivation and general brain fatigue. In this article, we’ll explain what is the so-called Zoom fatigue and how to escape and beat it.

What Is Zoom Fatigue?

During the COVID-19 pandemic a lot of people experienced a new type of fatigue, the so-called Zoom Fatigue. According to the Psychiatric Times more than 300 million participants of Zoom have encountered this problem during these times of permanent remote work, a multitude of video conferences during the day and screen tiredness. Of course, this type of fatigue can be caused by any video conferencing service and not only by Zoom.

What Causes Zoom Fatigue?

There are many reasons why after each video call we feel so tired and sometimes even exhausted. As Dr Lee says in the Psychiatric Times, oxytocin is the hormone involved in social bonding, doesn’t secrete as much during the video conference as it is when you meet people face to face. This natural reward system doesn’t work in the case of online meetings. The lack of eye connection and body language don’t help either. Moreover, the necessity to stare at the screen non-stop adds up some stress, eye strain and general fatigue.

According to National Geographic it’s also very challenging for the central vision and the brain itself to see many faces at once while using the Gallery View on Zoom. You have to simultaneously decode multiple facial expressions. Moreover, the problems caused by the video or sound disruption or a weak internet connection add up to everything mentioned above.

How to Ease Zoom Fatigue?

Though it is not possible to entirely give up on Zoom or other video conferencing softwares, such as Google Meet and Skype, you can still alleviate and combat Zoom fatigue.

  • Keep your video meetings short (no longer than 1 hour) and focused. Try not to do anything else during the meeting and if you have several conferences during the day, make sure to make pauses between sessions to make your eyes and brain rest.
  • You can turn off your camera when you are not speaking. This way you can continue listening to your colleagues without worrying about where you are looking and how you look.
  • Prioritize Speaker View mode over Gallery View to concentrate on only one face.
  • “That could have been an email”: Make sure that you really need a video conference for some discussions. If the subject could be presented via e-mail, text or just a short telephone call, save your and your colleagues time and forces.
  • Use F.lux or other apps of this type to adjust the intensity of blue light of your screen and reduce the eye strain.

Note: in this article we explain how to effectively conduct a meeting and escape the unwanted fatigue and eye strain.

Photo – Makeameme.org; 123RF.com

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This document, titled « How to Beat Zoom Fatigue », is available under the Creative Commons license. Any copy, reuse, or modification of the content should be sufficiently credited to CCM (ccm.net).

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