quick tips for fighting zoom fatigue

when it comes to video chats, researchers at stanford university feel your pain — and your mental exhaustion.a new study published in the journal technology, mind and behavior breaks down the psychological underpinnings of why a meeting on zoom, or any of the other videoconferencing platforms your boss had you to sign up for, can feel so draining. in fact, there’s a name for it: “zoom fatigue.”here’s why virtual meeting burnout happens, according to the experts and what you can do to avoid it.the eyes have ita news release on the study lays it all out: “both the amount of eye contact we engage in on video chats, as well as the size of faces on screens is unnatural.” a video meeting can mimic public speaking, a common phobia, with the sensation of all those eyes on you, even when you’re not speaking.then there’s the size. depending on your screen setup and the settings of the platform, the online video call can blow up a person’s face and eyes, collapsing your sense of physical space and stirring up some of the anxieties we’re hardwired to feel when someone, well, gets all up in your grill. a close-up face signals two things: mating or conflict.“what’s happening, in effect, when you’re using zoom for many, many hours is you’re in this hyper-aroused state,” says professor jeremy bailenson, founding director of the stanford virtual human interaction lab. he suggests avoiding the full-screen option and reducing the size of the zoom window to minimize face size. plus an external keyboard can help to “allow an increase in the personal space bubble between oneself and the grid.”watch yourselfmost of us don’t spend hours at a time in front of a mirror. but we’re essentially doing that when we’re on a marathon video call with our co-workers or just checking in on friends and family. bailenson says this can be mentally taxing and points to multiple studies that suggest too much mirror time can make us more critical about ourselves.“in the real world, if somebody was following you around with a mirror constantly — so that while you were talking to people, making decisions, giving feedback, getting feedback — you were seeing yourself in a mirror, that would just be crazy,” he says.the solution? hit the “hide self-view” button. bailenson believes tech companies should change the default settings so that when you log onto a virtual meeting, you’re not automatically staring at your own face.moving and doodlingvideo calls can freeze you in place, and that’s not great for your brain. think about the other ways we have typically connected with others: on the phone, you might pace or walk around, in an in-person meeting, you might shift around in your seat, scribble notes and doodle and chat on the way to the water cooler.turning off your video can give your brain a break and so can movement, which bailenson says can aid cognition. an external camera and external keyboard can free up space for pacing and doodling. and by the way, while drawing stars and squares on the corner of a sheet of paper might not sound productive, some studies suggest doodling can actually help you recall information as well as ease stress.glances and gesturesthen there’s the energy that gets zapped by trying to interpret the many expressions and gestures that people make while on video. for example, your colleague might look like they’re giving you cut-eye on screen, when in reality, they are likely doing something that has nothing to do the comment you just made, like looking off to the side to see if their dog is trying to eat their lunch, for example.meeting virtually can also turn what is a normal interaction into a pantomime: have you ever found yourself vigorously nodding your head in agreement or giving a big thumbs up to help ease interactions? “that adds cognitive load as you’re using mental calories in order to communicate,” bailenson says.one way around it is taking a screen break. not just hiding your face, but shifting your body away from the screen so that “for a few minutes you are not smothered with gestures that are perceptually realistic but socially meaningless.”the study, which stanford university believes is it first peer-reviewed article of its kind, highlights the need for better ways to manage our increasingly online lives. it also reminds us we aren’t powerless in the forms of communications that we choose to use.“just because you can use video doesn’t mean you have to,” bailenson says.don’t miss the latest on covid-19, reopening and life. subscribe to healthing’s daily newsletter covid life.