What Zoom and other video conferencing platforms got wrong

Have you ever felt more fatigued than usual after a webinar, or virtual workshop?

The phenomenon you were experiencing is called ‘video conference fatigue’, which was discovered by the American Psychological Association (APA).

It’s caused primarily by a lack of ‘group belonging’, the need to be affiliated or accepted as part of a group, among users/attendees.

The findings of the report indicate that “...higher levels of group belongingness are the most consistent protective factor against videoconference fatigue.”

You can find the full report here.

In other words, we need to feel connected to each other.

The more connected we are, the more likely we are to engage in the session and interact with each other.?The more we engage in the session and interact with each other, the more connected we feel.

And the inverse is also true.?

The less we feel a sense of belonging, the less connected we are.?The less connected we are, the less likely we are to engage in the session and interact with each other.

So the key question is, why are we struggling to feel connected or group belonging in video calls?

Connection is not Connectivity.

Traditional video conferencing and virtual platforms failed to differentiate between Connection and Connectivity.

Connection?in the context of video conferencing is the state of feeling accepted or linked to another attendee(s).

Connectivity is simply the capability, quality or state of being connected to a system, network of systems or application(s).?

We’re able to connect our devices, but we struggle to connect to each other.?

That’s why we tend to feel disengaged from the session or disconnected from our peers.

So where do we go from here?

We need to rethink the way we build digital tools to connect with each other by putting fundamental human needs in front of the needs of the user, or user stories.

While user stories are helpful, they narrow our viewpoint into achieving an outcome.?

If you take a step back, you’ll notice that each user story is actually an expression of one or two fundamental human needs that your software should be fulfilling.

By prioritising an authentic human need first in your design and development philosophy, you’ll create a product that genuinely fulfils a human need.

This is what’s missing with traditional video conferencing platforms.

And that’s why we built SPACEIN.

Like many other companies we shifted to Zoom during the pandemic, but soon found ourselves feeling symptoms of video conference fatigue. We missed the buzz of working and interacting with other people in a shared physical space.?

So we put our heads together and developed a platform that recreates the experience of interacting with other people in a shared physical space, digitally.?

And now we’d like to share it with you.

Check out how SPACEIN fills this gap here.