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Many have been experiencing Zoom fatigue as our brains are on overdrive during Zoom meetings, but the causes the solutions differ between introverts and extroverts. On Zoom, introverts suffer from intense interactions while extroverts don't receive their level of craved social reward.
Although countries around the world have been lifting restrictions and economies are starting to thrive again in this post-pandemic recovery, many things have changed. For businesses and employees, we are now facing the "New Normal''.
More specifically in the workplace, as digital communication accelerated during the pandemic, it has become a bedrock in the future of work. According to upward’s 2022 report, 40.7 million American professionals, nearly 28% of respondents will be fully remote in the next five years, up from 22.9% in our last survey conducted in November 2020.
Thanks to remote working, you no longer have to spend hours battling the commute; or for some, even get out of bed in the morning! Yet, after a day at work and virtual meetings from the comfort of your home, you feel more exhausted than ever.
Zoom fatigue has been one of the most popular and searched terms ever since the pandemic and the launch of remote working. According to Benefits Canada, the majority (80 percent) of U.S. remote workers say they’re experiencing some level of “Zoom fatigue”.
As remote working will be a significant part in the future of work, introverts and extroverts will need to understand one thing: how best they can embrace remote work.
Therefore, understanding how online meetings affect your productivity has never been more important. But what exactly is Zoom fatigue? How is Zoom fatigue impacting introverts and extroverts? And more importantly, how do you combat Zoom fatigue? Though the causes and solutions for Zoom fatigue differ for introverts and extroverts; in this blog, we will be exploring and answering these questions from the perspective of both introverts and extroverts. Keep reading to discover everything you need to know.
Following the rapid growth in the usage of videoconferencing throughout the past few years, the pain point of remote working has surfaced - Zoom fatigue.
This is when many workers experience tiredness, worry, and burnout due to the usage of conferencing software such as Zoom video.
Despite the name of this phenomenon, videoconferencing software can take forms from Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet to Microsoft Teams. Regardless of the application used, it is often reported that these sets of symptoms follow prolonged usage of videoconferencing.
According to an article published by Microsoft, remote collaboration is more mentally challenging than in-person collaboration. Why? Brainwave patterns associated with stress and overwork and become significantly higher during remote collaboration opposed to in-person collaboration.
A similar finding was reported: brain patterns are much higher in Zoom calls when compared to non-meeting work such as writing emails. Furthermore, due to high levels of sustained concentration required in meetings, fatigue tends to set in every 30-40 minutes, while stress begins to set in at about two hours into the meetings (Microsoft).
According to a study published by Stanford, the four main factors that lead to fatigue are listed and explained: from the close-up eye contact, constantly seeing self-reflection, the lack of mobility, and the cognitive overload caused by videoconferencing.
Close-up eye contact is required to stay engaged in a video conference. On top of that, we are often presented with unnaturally large-scaled faces on monitor screens. Both factors put strains on our brains. This is because our brain naturally associates intense eye contact and closed-up faces with a lack of personal space and potential conflict.
Moreover, in traditional in-person meetings participants look at the speaker. In zoom conferences, however, the listeners are treated as nonverbal speakers, with constant eye contact shared between everyone. Therefore, when using zoom, these factors combined push the brain to a hyper-aroused state. And with prolonged usage, it can largely contribute to what is called Zoom fatigue.
Most video conferencing applications show a square of what you look like during Zoom calls. Though we may not think much of it, the constant view of our reflections also subconsciously contributes to the stress of videoconferencing.
It’s proven that negative emotional consequences can arise when seeing yourself in the mirror for an extended period of time. Needless to say, what this can impose on employees who are experiencing this for hours on end during zoom calls.
There are hundreds of studies that show a positive correlation between movement and cognitive performance - the increase in movement is associated with increase in cognitive function. Whilst in-person conversations and meetings allow the speaker to move around and walk, this is not an option for video conferencing.
Naturally, the decrease in movements caused by work-from-home or in extreme situations - hours of zoom calls - can negatively impact work performances and employee motivation.With the lack of motivation and energy, fatigue accompanies.
Unlike face-to-face interactions, video conferences offer limited non-verbal communication.
Normally, these nonverbal communications are cues that help us interpret gestures and body language, which is essential for us to efficiently understand and communicate with each other.
With the lack of which, it leads to our brains having to constantly go into overdrive to compensate for this lack of information. Ultimately, this can also be a leading factor to the energy drain.
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Typically, introverts tend to enjoy more time to themselves, are very aware of their internal thoughts, and recharge more in solitude. Therefore, being able to use videoconferencing to virtually interact with co-workers might not be such a bad idea for them.
Researchers found that those who thrive in face-to-face gatherings - ones with extraversion - are not necessarily the strongest in digital settings.
The opportunity to interact virtually, from a distance may allow introverts to build relationships slowly in a less threatening social environment.
In addition to these existing difficulties that we all face with video conferencing, introverts often have to undergo layers of extra challenges.
Videoconferencing, like most of their group activities, “don’t play into this introverted strength,” says Orozco. “Plus, because it’s much harder to understand when someone is done talking on a video call, an introvert who needs to pause and collect their thoughts as they talk may struggle with being frequently interrupted, adding to the frustration and overwhelm of group video calls.”
- Use asynchronous communication when possible as this allows you - regardless of your personality being extroverted or introverted - to take a break from Zoom’s information override on your brain.
- Hide your self-view. Staring at yourself - especially for introverts as this may make them more self-conscious and– can make the video conferences extra draining.
- Minimize the size of your Zoom screen on the monitor. By doing so, the figures speaking with aren’t too close-up, minimizing the excessive eye contact.
- Set your device at a distance that enables you to move around during calls.
- If it is a big meeting and video presence is not required, turn off your camera to give yourself an audio-only break.
- Use asynchronous communication where possible.
Extroverts can be just the opposite to introverts. Extroverts are often more outspoken, and outgoing. Their extraversion is linked to sensitivity to social rewards. Extroverts crave stimulation, drawing their energy from being with others. And the lack of which, can cause the negative effects of Zoom fatigue to hit extroverts even harder.
Despite the working circumstances, video conferencing offers extroverts a platform to engage in social interactions virtually with co-workers to feel less isolated.
Zoom meetings can also imitate settings and feelings of in-person meetings to an extent; creating collaborative settings where extroverts are able to contribute with enthusiasm and high energy.
Though video conferences provide the social interaction aspects that extroverts crave, but “Zoom'' does not provide the same visceral feedback as a live conversation. This will make it less satisfying [for people with extroversion]" says Roger McIntyre, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Toronto.
Experts also say that because extroverts miss the visceral feedback, the body language and visual cues that come with in-person conversations, they will use more energy on interpretation. This causes them to “[use] more focus and not likely get the same reward”. Ultimately, causing the draining and fatiguing feelings after Zoom calls.
Extroverts, just like introverts, can also feel drained after a few hours of video conferences. The cause, however, differs. Zoom fatigue for people with extraversion usually arises when they must just sit and passively listen and not communicate with others.
- Use asynchronous communication when possible as this allows you - regardless of your personality being extroverted or introverted - to take a break from Zoom’s information override on your brain.
- Use full-HD video quality with larger monitors and superb sound to create an immersive and conversational experience.
- Use an extensive library of 3D backgrounds and AR filters to make Zoom more interesting and less draining.
- Communicate and get energy from people and co-workers in other methods such as synchronous communication - music sharing - or asynchronous communication - responding to threads on Slack.
Though working remotely may lead to a lack of trust between the management team and team members, micromanagement and excessive amount of Zoom meetings will only facilitate zoom fatigue and do more harm than good.
This is because the excessive number of meetings will then lead to a series of events: employees becoming stressed, less productive, and decreased physical and emotional well-being.
It was also found that meetings increase the likelihood of people committing errors during a task, because they miss or repeat important components. And in one survey, 65% of workers said that meetings keep them from completing their work.
At Omnifia, we trialled an async week to reduce internal meetings. We found we got into a deeper state of work, had more thoughtful conversations, amongst other things.
Below, we have gathered a few tips to cut down on unnecessary meetings
Given high levels of sustained concentration, fatigue begins to set 30-40 minutes into a meeting, you can allow employees to take regular breaks between long meetings to let their brain recharge.
Another tip by limiting meetings to 30 minutes or punctuating long meetings with small breaks when possible.
Meetings are often conducted for project updates or requests for knowledge that’s already contained across multiple apps. This makes it hard for teams to discover and meetings are scheduled to discover information. This is why we created Omnifia. You can find updates as they happen, no matter the app, and search across them too. You can get access today.
Asynchronous meetings have the same objectives as a synchronous meeting, but the way in which they are set up differ. In an async meeting, the relevant team members will be invited into the discussion space, there will be a set goal for the meetings and an agenda.
Create and send out meeting agendas with the purpose of the meeting and outline the topics that will be discussed. By doing so, not only will you limit the number of meetings to the ones that are necessary as well as the time so that it does not become draining for employees.
At Omnifia, we are predominantly a remote team. We are async-first by default, but we also utilize synchronous based communication in short bursts. Our online meetings are fast, to the point, and they always have an agenda.
Like many businesses, we work across a tonne of different apps. From Slack, Google Calendar, Trello, HubSpot, Notion. We found out first hand that finding information across these apps is a huge time suck - so created a cross-application feed and a cross application search. This power of connectivity helps our users find information 3x faster, reducing the need for online meetings and removing Zoom fatigue for introverts and extroverts! If you want to save yourself a tonne of time and spend it on doing something you love, get early access here.
What do you think about zoom fatigue? Do you feel it yourself, and how did you deal with it? Any tips we missed? Let us know by reaching out on our Twitter or LinkedIn.