New fatigue from excessive video calls: Zoom Fatigue

We call this communication exhaustion "Zoom fatigue", for the well-known videoconferencing interface, although it also refers to the use of others such as Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, etc. The question now on the table is: does virtual communication affect the brain more than face-to-face communication?

Factors that affect virtual communication

Negative factors

In video conferences there are more elements that must be taken into account compared to face-to-face communication, which affect the level of fatigue:

• Video calling removes fundamental subtleties from face-to-face communication.We do not see the body of the person (we lose postural information) and no small gestures that can be revealing for communication.
• If the video quality is bad (freezes the image or produces hearing cuts) still more information is lost, even parts of the verbal message. Thisforces us to be more attentive, increasing fatigue and generating feelings of frustration. If, due to these technical problems, our interlocutor raises his tone, even more exhaustion is created.
• It removedsensory information (touch, smell and taste).
• The context also modulates communication and in videoconferencing it disappears, since it is always the same.Seeing always the same image is also tiring mentally due to monotony. On the other hand, showing part of our home can also be experienced as an invasion of privacy, which is why some applications allow you to blur the background or put a wallpaper.
• The silences, an important part during the message, can be considered connection problems, and it confuses whether they are intentional or not.
• The look. Not knowing where the other is looking (at the interlocutor, at the camera, another element ...) generates discomfort.
• Multitask: Doing other things while making a video conference is a very common thing that increases fatigue (the so-called “continuous partial attention”).
• We lose the implicit rules of when it is our turn to speak.It is difficult for turns to speak to be respected.
• If it is amultiple videoconferencing are still much more complex all the commented aspects. Overstimulation is overwhelming and can make some people feel self-conscious or overexcited. It is even difficult to tell who is speaking at times, further adding to the chaos. To facilitate this there are applications that indicate who is speaking at all times.

Positive factors

• They allow us to communicate in real time at great distances and in different situations.
• They provide visual information, not just aural or written. Allows you to share graphics and various files in real time.
• It can be more manageable than face-to-face communication, less risky and more comfortable in certain difficult subjects (screen as a shield).

Factors for the current situation

Not all factors that cause fatigue they are properly due to virtual communication, but also to situational variables. It takes time to assess the real consequences of videoconference fatigue, and to what extent they are due to the virtual format or can be considered secondary effects of the health crisis.

Despite the fact that now the situation is not the same as during confinement, we are still in a difficult time:

• One of the first symptoms of low mood is tiredness., so this could be a reflection of this time, rather than the video call itself.
• Since remote communication was the only possible remote communication during confinement, it became necessary tomany people will upgrade in unknown computing world. That effort toogenerates fatigue, especially due to the lack of mastery of the environment.
• Chain one video conference after another, It is something very common, and increases the degree of exhaustion. In addition, different applications are often used, making it even more difficult to disconnect.
• Boredom it could also increase the number of videoconferences between family and friends, leading to empty conversations, talk for the sake of talking. This is something that can also influence an increase in fatigue.

What to do to avoid fatigue?

• Virtual communication has come to stay, so it is importantlearn to use it and to relate to her.
• Win digital skills.Learn the operation thoroughly.
• Try tocentralize your contacts to a minimum of applications possible, to reduce dispersion.
• If you get saturated, turn off the camera. It will decrease the amount of stimuli and relax your brain.
• Get back on the phone. It transmits only the verbal message and is usually of higher technical quality, which also reduces attentional effort. If possible, walk while you talk (increases creativity and concentration and reduces anxiety).
• Try to be present (in person and virtually): pay attention to the conversation without being at the same time in other pending thoughts or activities.
• Find the balance.Combine, whenever possible, virtual contact with face-to-face contact.

• The communicational exhaustion or fatigue that some suffer from the number of videoconferences these days has been dubbed Zoom Fatigue.
• Virtual communication has come to stay, so it would be convenient to use it and interact with it.
• It would be about trying, as far as possible, to find a balance. Combine, whenever possible, virtual contact with face-to-face contact.