The Science of Zoom Fatigue

If you are like me and you are on back to back video calls and you are feeling exhausted, it is because virtual interactions are taxing on our brains in a whole new way.?There is a physical, and psychological exhaustion, that goes along with it.?

?So what is actually happening?

Firstly, you're going to have to emote more when you're on video calls because you're in a little box, and you're having to perform and unless you're a trained actress, that is not a natural state for you to be in. Your brain is having to work very hard to amplify your emotions so you can get your point across, in a very unnatural environment.?

?Secondly, your brain is trying to establish meaning and emotion from the person or people that you're talking to. Once upon a time, in a real-life meeting (remember those?!) you would be getting lots of juicy, wonderful nonverbal cues from another human being. It's likely that you're not getting those on video calls and as your brain searches for them, it adds more mental exercises into your day.?

?Normally on video calls, we see from shoulders, up to the face. You're missing a whole lot of body language that your brain is designed to decode, so you can figure out, “does that person disagree with me right now?” “are they connecting with what I'm saying?” “are they agreeing with what I've just said?”?

?You're not able to establish this easily because you're not getting those visual cues. On top of that, it's likely people are muted and so you're not even getting the verbal cues and those subtle noises of recognition; the mmm’s and the AHA!’s. In addition, you're not getting those lovely little sophisticated cues that our magnificent brain listens for: for example, a quick inhale of breath, which indicates that someone wants to say something and contribute.?

All of that is causing just that extra effort for our brains to navigate during the day-to-day video calls. In addition to that, we've got this level of self-consciousness that's going on too. What is in my background? What if one of my children walked in? Oh my goodness. These things are adding up to what can be quite an exhausting experience!?

?What can you do about ‘Zoom Fatigue’?

?Firstly, please be kind to yourself. Notice what your patterns are like at the moment and start looking at where you can set some boundaries on how many video calls you’re having a day/week. Start looking at where you can actually say No to scheduling a video call.?

?Ask yourself these 3 questions if you’re having trouble with the word No.?

?-What's in it for me??

-And what's in it for them?

-Is it necessary to have a call, or can this be an email??

?For example, what's in it for me to say ‘yes’ to this zoom meeting? What's in it for them for me to say ‘yes’ to this? And then the slightly more challenging question to ask yourself is: What's in it for me to say ‘No’??

?Maybe you'll come up with two or three things pretty quickly there.?

?What's in it for the other party, whether that's a client or a stakeholder, your boss, your peers, your team, a family member, a playdate for the children. What's in it for them for me to say No?

?Be prepared to be surprised by how amazingly creative your brain will be around actually what is the gift that you might be giving the other person!? And if you're not sure, ask them. What would it be like if we didn't actually have this meeting??

Try it out. Set some boundaries and get more time back in your diary for yourself.