Causes of Zoom Fatigue and Proven Ways to Cope
Are you done with Zoom? Have you tapped out of remote meetings? We can all relate. Almost four years after the SARS-Cov-2 virus started a global pandemic, a significant percentage of the workforce still participates in hybrid or remote work.
Corporations have taken note, with investment in collaboration software like Microsoft Teams or Zoom increasing by up to 3,891% since the start of the pandemic. The benefits for individual contractors and small businesses are undeniable, too.
Teams can be spread across the world but meet daily or weekly on Zoom and other video conferencing platforms - something that would have been unthinkable before the work-from-home era of 2020 or 2021.
However, the amount of time we spend maintaining eye contact and using nonverbal cues to communicate our(sometimes feigned) engagement on video calls can be exhausting. Simply put, it's unnatural for us to spend so much time keyed into virtual communication, and it should come as no surprise that many are feeling a continued drain on their productivity and energy throughout the workday.
In a world that won't be returning to entirely in-person work anytime soon, how can we cope with Zoom fatigue? And how did we get to a point where having your video on is the norm? Let's talk.
Step Into My Office: My Experience with Video Conferencing
I've been using Zoom as my online meeting platform for at least a couple of years now. Before 2020, clients and colleagues would use the audio option much more frequently than video. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, people in my virtual space began to share their video feed, offering a gentle invitation into their personal space. The beginnings of meetings were less cursory than in the pre-COVID era and folks spent more time sharing some of their challenges and gratitudes too.
Zoom Fatigue
But I've noticed another shift in the way people present themselves now in online meetings, and maybe you have, too. For a start, there are more curated backgrounds, designed to maintain some sense of privacy or boundary between personal and professional life. There's a weariness in people's presence in Zoom meetings and a palpable sense of energy depletion.
And the circulation of Zoom bloopers and fails is increasing. I'm sure you've experienced those, too, and if not, you'll have seen them on the Internet. I was recently in a Zoom meeting where one of the attendees wrote something derogatory in the chat about another participant and broadcast it to all. everyone in the virtual meeting. Oops...
For all the actual, widely publicized bloopers out there, my personal favorite is still Olive and Mabel: The Company Meeting.
We might be tired of living online, but virtual is here to stay. So we are going to have to figure out how to maintain an energetic presence on Zoom meetings whilst also preserving our mental and physical energy.
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Physicalize Your Presence: How to Take Zoom Calls in a Way That Supports You
Eleanor Handley, a communications expert in New York, notes that communication requires movement and a degree of physicality that we take for granted in daily life. We literally imprint information with our bodies.
For instance, in a physical work environment, as we move through different spaces and scenarios (from one office to another, from work desk to coffee room) and talk to different people in those spaces, we not only break up the day with movement but process and store social and emotional information in what Handley calls our mental filing cabinets.
When we are not moving from one physical space to another—in the work-from-home alongside partners, roommates, and children—that information is not being efficiently processed.
Handley offers 3 tips for optimizing your online communication and reducing the mental and emotional stress and physical fatigue of virtual overwhelm.
1. Use Your Body to Emphasize What You Want to Say During a Video Meeting
Consider standing when you are in an online meeting. When you stand to speak, you gesticulate more and so move the body—an important consideration when we are all sitting for even longer than in our pre-COVID worlds. You also use your breath more efficiently when you stand versus when you sit.
This combination of subtle movement and breath efficiency can help you more effectively make the points you want to say, especially in online conferencing. I stand a LOT in my office, especially when I am interviewing folks for qualitative research projects. Standing helps me stay grounded and alert, practice active listening, and vocalize clearly.
2. Use Voice Only Video Calls
Not all meetings need to be online. In a virtual meeting environment, it's easy to become distracted by multiple visual cues (the multiple boxed heads, the virtual screens, the dogs/cats/children in the background). This can be exhausting in itself and makes it really challenging to listen and contribute to discussion in a meaningful way.
No wonder we feel overloaded. Sometimes audio is better than being on video, depending on the goals of the meeting. Using voice-only meeting options or the phone (remember the phone?) can increase your attentiveness and ability to listen actively (see #1).
3. Practice Out Loud
Whether you are making a phone call or participating in a video meeting, if you have key points you need to make or want to contribute, practice saying them out loud first. Handley calls the ear an incredible editor and notes that practicing out loud is a great way to build muscle memory and imprint information. It's also a terrific way to test how succinct your communication style is. In an online context, succinct is sweet.
You can hear more of Handley's tips here in her conversation with Ilise Benun on the Marketing Mentor podcast.
Increase Your Wellbeing as a Medical Writer
Whether you've only started working remotely recently or have been using Zoom since before the pandemic, setting healthy boundaries and incorporating a sense of physicality into your virtual meetings are effective ways to combat Zoom fatigue. If you're an aspiring CME writer, we can't wait to share more well-being resources with you on the Write Medicine website.
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