Understanding and overcoming 'Zoom fatigue'

What makes back-to-back Zoom meetings so tiring? Dr Nick Earley, a clinical psychologist and head of psychology at workplace wellbeing provider Happence, shares some tips for making screen time less taxing.

Zoom’s revenues grew by a staggering $206m between Q1 of 2020 and Q1 of 2021 which shows just how significant a part of our working lives video conferencing has become. As the world has adapted to remote working, many of us have had to get used to interacting with our colleagues on screen.

But ‘Zoom fatigue’ is taking its toll. A recent study revealed that almost half of workers who use video conferencing tools are suffering from this newly coined ‘condition’. Of course, the issue isn’t exclusive to Zoom. Employees using Microsoft Teams or any other video conferencing apps also experience it.

While we may have viewed video conferencing as a tool to get us through COVID-19 lockdowns, it's clearly here to stay in many businesses that are choosing to embrace hybrid or fully remote working.

What are some causes of Zoom fatigue?

First, seeing our own face during video calls constantly in real-time can be tiring and distracting.

Professor Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of the Stanford Virtual Human Interaction Lab, likens this to having a mirror held up near our face in every in-person interaction during an ordinary day in the workplace. According to Bailenson, being more critical of ourselves is a common negative emotional consequence of being faced with our reflection.

Another cause of Zoom fatigue is the higher cognitive load that video calls demand compared with normal in-person interactions. Simply put, we have to work harder on video calls to send and receive signals.

While an in-person conversation involves natural cues and gestures that we make and interpret subconsciously, video calls force us to make (and decode) exaggerated gestures and signals; this requires a lot more effort.

Of course, it's not just work that’s causing an overload of screen time. Nowadays, many of us spend hours scrolling on our smartphones, gaming or binge-watching TV box-sets. It's no surprise that our eyes and brains are becoming tired. So what can we do about it?

What changes can we make to combat fatigue?

There are various steps we can take to overcome Zoom fatigue and it’s important that we bear these in mind – as individuals and as employers – especially where video conferencing is a part of everyday working life.

Here are five tips:

1. First and foremost, it’s worthwhile reviewing the volume of video calls we hold on a daily or weekly basis and determining whether every one of them is absolutely necessary. Could this meeting be a phone call? Could it even be an email exchange or instant message? Could we occasionally meet in-person?

2. We should also encourage our teams to turn their cameras off at apprropiate times, especially during days when they’re joining multiple calls.

3. We can similarly reduce cognitive load by minimising or hiding the conferencing screen so we participate in the conversation without having to process what’s happening visually.

4. Dialling into a video conference on our phones and joining in as an audio-only participant can give us back the mobility that video conferencing has stolen from us.

Note that when we’re sat in front of the screen, we’re restricted from being able to move freely as we might naturally do during a phone or in-person conversation. For some people, these movements can help them relax or become more engaged in the discussion.

5. Finally, we should take regular breaks from our computer screens to break up the working day. We need to give our eyes (and minds) a rest from the demands of being part of the virtual workforce.

Spotting signs of stress and burnout 

Zoom fatigue is just one example of the many challenges people may face while working remotely.

The line between work and home life can become easily blurred so it’s important to be able to spot the signs of stress and burnout early. This allows us to take a preventive approach rather than a reactive one, whether we’re recognising those signs in ourselves or our co-workers.

Common signs of increased stress include a lack of motivation, or someone appearing more withdrawn than usual and displaying changes in their body language or tone of voice. Apparent distraction during video calls is another signal to look out for. Some neurodiverse people may find it particularly hard to focus during long periods of video conferencing. 

When considering our own wellbeing, we might also notice changes in our appetite, find ourselves staying in bed for longer, worrying more or dwelling on negative thoughts. We may experience heightened emotions such as irritability, anxiety or sadness.

Interrogating our behaviour and seeking out preventive and resilience-building strategies can help us become more aware of – and able to deal with – any decline in wellbeing.

With improved mental resilience, we will be able to cope better when difficult scenarios inevitably arise – whether they’re related to Zoom fatigue or any other issues within the workplace or at home. 

Read: Nutshell: How to run great virtual meetings