Zoom fatigue

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A Zoom teleconferencing call French Hill hosting video conference with the National Journalism Center.png
A Zoom teleconferencing call

Zoom fatigue is tiredness, worry, or burnout associated with the overuse of online platforms of communication, particularly videotelephony. [1] Its name derives from the cloud-based videoconferencing and online chat software Zoom, but the term can be used to refer to fatigue from any videoconferencing platform (such as Google Meet or Microsoft Teams).

Contents

The term was popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the use of videoconferencing software became common due to the effects of isolation and widespread lockdowns. [2]

The phenomenon of Zoom fatigue has been attributed to an overload of nonverbal cues and communication that are not normally present in face-to-face conversations, [3] and the increased average size of groups in video calls. [4]

Symptoms

Physical

Although remote work was widespread in the software service and information technology sectors, the COVID-19 pandemic forced more than 85% of people working in traditionally in-person industries to temporarily change to a remote work environment. These disruptions in working habits opened up challenges within many households, such as a lack of dedicated workspaces. [5]

Zoom fatigue's primary physical effects are typically limited to the eyes, shoulders, joints, and the cervical spine. [6] Common symptoms include: headaches, migraines, eye irritation and pain, blurred and double vision, and excessive tearing and blinking. Besides physical, Zoom fatigue also has several mental effects, which, despite often being less evident, can be more problematic, as they can carry long-term implications for the body, while being more difficult to diagnose. Some of these mental symptoms include: decreased attention, sleep disorders, depression, depletion of mental or physical capacity and inertia. [7]

A study by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) conducted during the first two weeks of the COVID-19 lockdowns found that more than half of survey respondents reported higher levels of aches and pains compared with previous baselines, especially in the neck (58%), shoulder (56%) and back (55%). The study also found that poor sleep and increased risk of exhaustion were also causes of concern. The majority of respondents reported a loss of sleep due to worry (64%) and correspondingly, increased symptoms of fatigue (60%), which the IES attributed to be "possibly a consequence of nearly half (48%) reporting working patterns that include long and irregular hours". Besides those mentioned above, an increase in alcohol consumption and a decrease in healthy and adequate diets was also reported. [8]

A survey of over one thousand Americans in November 2020 found that 72% of the people were working from their bed, a habit which triggered health problems, with reported symptoms including headaches, back stiffness, arthritis. [9]

Psychological

In video calls, group engagement occurs without the participants' physical presence, triggering a form of constant dissonance that can lead to exhaustion. [10] Some sources allege that the apparent presence of enlarged human faces within one's private spaces can trigger threat responses by the brain. [11]

Contextual

Contextual stressors also exist that are caused by Zoom fatigue. The inability to cope with new (and often highly intrusive) technologies, called technostress, [10] alongside global differences in the access and use of these technologies (caused by wage inequality) that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, [12] described in the digital divide theory, [13] both contribute to reduce concentration and reduce rates of cognitive energy during online live sessions.

Emotional

Emotional consequences of Zoom fatigue are fundamental to consider as they have great importance in an individual's approach to social relations and the work environment:

Shift to digital consumption

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, digital communication methods had already become increasingly prevalent alongside traditional face-to-face interactions, however, the implementation of lockdown measures and restrictions on social gatherings dramatically accelerated the shift toward digital platforms, propelling them to the forefront of everyday communication. [15] As a result, institutions and individuals were forced to rapidly adapt to virtual interactions, leading to a significant increase in the use of videoconferencing platforms.

Increased usage of videoconferencing platforms

As virtual interactions became essential during the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom and other video conferencing platforms experienced rapid growth. Zoom, which had 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019, reported 300 million by April 2020. [16] Microsoft Teams reached 75 million daily active users in April 2020, a 70% increase in a month, and recorded over 200 million meeting participants in a single day. Google Meet added approximately 3 million new users daily during the same period and surpassed 100 million daily meeting participants. Cisco Webex also reported 300 million users and nearly 240,000 sign-ups within a 24-hour period in April 2020. [17]

Increased multifunctionality of videoconferencing platforms

Traditionally, video conferencing platforms were used primarily for business calls and maintaining personal connections with family and friends; however, during the COVID-19 crisis, the availability of diverse device and software solutions led to a rise in creative use cases of these platforms. Video calls enhanced the sense of togetherness by facilitating the sharing of daily routines. For example, couples often left video calls active while engaging in separate activities, allowing for occasional interaction, while children used the medium to "show and tell" to distant relatives, as communication through video calls was considered more natural than voice or text alone.

Families and friends started celebrating holidays online, such as Easter and the Passover Seder; additionally, they participated in other activities such as watching movies, playing games or celebrating birthdays. Some physically oriented activities related to social life or personal interests have also become virtual, such as holding church services or yoga classes in an online format.

Individuals also actively joined webinars to access psychological support, as well as career and health counseling as a way of coping with the challenges posed by the pandemic. [18]

State of research

The growing public concern about causes and consequences of Zoom fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic is reflected in intensive media reporting. [19] [12] [20] At the same time, researchers have started to investigate the phenomenon of Zoom fatigue by suggesting underlying psychological mechanisms, [3] developing measures such as the "Zoom Exhaustion & Fatigue Scale" [21] and conducting empirical studies. [22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wolf, Carolyn Reinach (May 14, 2020). "Virtual Platforms Are Helpful Tools but Can Add to Our Stress". Psychology Today . Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Google Trends". Google Trends. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Bailenson, Jeremy N. (2021). "Nonverbal overload: A theoretical argument for the causes of Zoom fatigue". Technology, Mind, and Behavior. 2 (1). doi: 10.1037/tmb0000030 .
  4. ↑ McCulloch, Gretchen (November 30, 2020). "A Mission to Make Virtual Parties Actually Fun". Wired . ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  5. ↑ Suresh, Geetha (2020). "Workspace and postural challenges in Work from Home (WFH) Scenario". International Journal of Grid and Distributed Computing. 13 (2).
  6. ↑ Lufkin, Bryan (February 18, 2021). "What happens when you work from bed for a year". BBC. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Jon (February 25, 2020). "Negative effects of technology: Psychological, social, and health". Medical News Today . Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  8. ↑ Bevan, Stephen; Mason, Beth; Bajorek, Zofia (April 2020). "IES Working at Home Wellbeing Survey-Interim Findings". Institute for Employment Studies .
  9. ↑ "Sleep, Work, and COVID-19: In-Depth Study". Tuck Sleep. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Bullock, Angela; Colvin, Alex D.; Jackson, M. Sebrena (April 29, 2022). "Zoom Fatigue in the Age of COVID-19". Journal of Social Work in the Global Community. 6 (1). doi: 10.5590/JSWGC.2022.07.1.01 . ISSN   2642-1763. S2CID   231948968.
  11. ↑ Wolf, Carolyn Reinach (May 14, 2020). "Virtual Platforms Are Helpful Tools but Can Add to Our Stress | Psychology Today". Psychology Today . Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  12. 1 2 Jiang, Manyu (2020, April 22). The reason Zoom calls drain your energy. BBC Worklife.https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting
  13. ↑ Lupton, Deborah (2014). Digital Sociology. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN   9781138022775.
  14. ↑ Korunovska, Jana; Spiekermann, Sarah (October 2019). The Effects of Digitalization on Human Energy and Fatigue: A Review (PDF) (Report). Vienna University of Economics and Business. arXiv: 1910.01970 .
  15. ↑ Hall, Jeffrey A. (2020). Relating Through Technology: Everyday Social Interaction. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108629935. ISBN   9781108629935. S2CID   225181255.
  16. ↑ "90-Day Security Plan Progress Report: April 22". Zoom. April 23, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  17. ↑ Warren, Tom (April 30, 2020). "Zoom admits it doesn't have 300 million users, corrects misleading claims". The Verge. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
  18. ↑ Hacker, Janine; vom Brocke, Jan; Handali, Joshua; Otto, Markus; Schneider, Johannes (2020). "Virtually in this together – how web-conferencing systems enabled a new virtual togetherness during the COVID-19 crisis". European Journal of Information Systems . 29 (5): 563–584. doi: 10.1080/0960085X.2020.1814680 . ISSN   0960-085X. S2CID   224947325.
  19. ↑ Fosslien, Liz; Duffy, Mollie West (April 29, 2020). "How to Combat Zoom Fatigue". Harvard Business Review. ISSN   0017-8012 . Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  20. ↑ McConnon, Aili (March 9, 2021). "Zoom Fatigue: The Differing Impact on Introverts and Extroverts". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  21. ↑ Fauville, G.; Luo, M.; Queiroz, A.C.M.; Bailenson, J.N.; Hancock, J. (2021). "Zoom Exhaustion & Fatigue Scale". Computers in Human Behavior Reports . 4 100119. doi: 10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100119 . S2CID   238949468.
  22. ↑ Bennett, Andrew A.; Campion, Emily D.; Keeler, Kathleen R.; Keener, Sheila K. (2021). "Videoconference fatigue? Exploring changes in fatigue after videoconference meetings during COVID-19" . Journal of Applied Psychology . 106 (3): 330–344. doi:10.1037/apl0000906. ISSN   1939-1854. PMID   33871270. S2CID   233300126.
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