Virtual meetings have skyrocketed over the past year, with the entire world clocking in over 3.3 trillion virtual meeting minutes. Researchers say too many video-calls could be affecting our physical and emotional health.
When almost half the world’s population was confined indoors back in April 2020, the Internet became our umbilical cord to the outside world. Across the EU, 37% were fortunate enough to have a connection and a knowledge-based job, and could carry on with their work remotely. Our living rooms transformed into makeshift offices and schools, as video-conferencing tools like Zoom registered 2.13 million downloads worldwide in a single day last year. The software recently hit a milestone of 3.3 trillion annual meeting minutes. What does this increased activity tell us about the future of work and education? More importantly, how is it contributing to our overall wellbeing?

Nothing has had a more profound impact on online activity than this pandemic. And as digital technologies continue to dominate our everyday lives, it is crucial that we understand the long-term impact it will have on our health. This is why the Faculty for Social Wellbeing is consistently looking into such issues as part of its research portfolio. What effects do our devices have on our sense of self and our relationships with others? In a relatively new area called digital wellbeing, researchers look into the benefits, risks and limitations of technology in relation to health and usage. 

Over the past fifteen months, I’ve come to appreciate how richer meeting in person actually is. There is no doubt that remote working is convenient: The stress of the morning commute, the hours spent in traffic and the desperate chase for parking is replaced by a single URL. I can fit in more meetings in my day, and feel more productive. But at what cost? Researchers have confirmed that virtual meetings cause fatigue, especially when relied upon in excessive amounts, and may actually be outweighing the perceived benefits — the longer we spend on our screens, the more physically and emotionally exhausted we become. Psychologists have defined this feeling as ‘Zoom fatigue’. And like any other experience associated with the coronavirus pandemic, Zoom fatigue appears to be prevalent and also completely new. Yet, gaining awareness could be the first step to improving our sense of digital wellbeing.

Professor of Communication at Stanford University, Jeremy Bailenson, has looked into the limitations of Zoom’s interface and design in an attempt to explain why we feel exhausted after attending to video-calls. For instance, the mosaic of faces we see during meetings could be inducing social anxiety. Although we are ‘listeners’ in the meeting, on Zoom, we feel like we are speakers on a podium — everyone is staring at you — and the brain registers this as a stressful experience. The feeling of being monitored is also paired with a social pressure, and we feel like we need to perform. It’s also very hard for us to not look at our own faces if we can see it on screen, or not to be conscious of how we behave in front of the camera.

In his report, Bailenson continuously brings to the fore how we take our body language for granted. In a face-to-face conversation, he explains, we’re reading one another’s posture, proximity, gaze and gestures, and we gauge one another’s mood and emotion, we can tell whether s/he is trustworthy, angry, or feeling confident. Silences are also an important aspect of a conversation. Gestures and eye-movement help us understand who would like to contribute. The lack of physical presence creates a gap in the communication process and our brains need to work harder at filling in the gaps — hence why it feels so exhausting. Video-calls essentially mean we need to work harder to process these non-verbal cues, which are absent, and paying more attention consumes a lot of energy.

While video-calls do not stop us from moving around, the fact that we feel we have ‘all eyes on us’ prevents us from attending to other tasks, namely note-taking, doodling, or pacing. We feel compelled to sit still in camera view. This tampering down on movement may also be tampering with our ideas. Research continuous to show that people who are walking come up with more creative ideas than people who are sitting. Nietzsche even pointed this out back in the 19th century, when he wrote: “all great thoughts are conceived by walking.”

So how can we alleviate Zoom fatigue? 

While virtual meetings have allowed us to continue functioning (to some degree), it’s time to start questioning whether the meeting really warrants a video or whether it could be a phone call instead. Phone calls have contributed to productivity and connectedness for decades, and prove to be less taxing — they don’t interfere with talking or listening, they supplement it. Plus, we’re not stuck to our desks all day, we can walk, talk and doodle at the same time.

Bailenson also encourages the use of ‘hide self-view’ and to periodically turn off one’s video to have a brief ‘nonverbal rest’. Another helpful practice would be to incorporate some thinking time after the speaker asks a question. So instead of immediately jumping into a discussion, team members are allowed to reflect for a few minutes, perhaps even asking everyone to switch off their cameras to pace around the room, before coming back with their thoughts. It is possible that Zoom fatigue will balance out once we learn to navigate the stress video-calls can cause.

The factors contributing to Zoom fatigue are complicated and multidimensional. This is why further investigation into how the tools we use and develop can impact our sense of digital wellbeing is needed. Although technology has been connective, supportive and educational in ways that could have been impossible a few years ago, there is no doubt that a different working culture is on the horizon. Now’s the time to maximise the benefits of the tools we harness, and make a head-start into the post-pandemic world. The Faculty for Social Wellbeing remains committed to exploring the issues that influence our day-to-day, and assisting decision-makers in maximising our wellbeing.

Christine Spiteri is a Research Support Officer at the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta.

Contact the faculty on [email protected]