How I'm Learning to Balance Zoom Fatigue

I knew I could not be the only person to have unexplained waves of tiredness when I did not actually complete much all day. I do have days when I superbly complete a task or few. I might even show up to Zoom or Google Meet meetings two minutes early, happily waiting in the silence. Then another day comes, and I feel like I absolutely cannot be bothered with anything.

I was on a Zoom call last week when someone mentioned the phrase “Zoom fatigue.” Without further explanation, I knew exactly what the person described, and having a name for what I was experiencing made me feel less alone and less anomalous. 

There are multiple social-related reasons that people experience Zoom fatigue that many of you know intrinsically, including a blurred work-life balance, which ultimately leads to negative connotations with video conferencing. There are also some psychological reasons--our brains can get overworked with splitting simultaneous attention in a gallery view or the technical arrangements make it difficult to participate and video calls feel less collaborative.

It seems that the sudden gravitation and abrupt reliance on video calls at the start of stay-at-home orders might have snuck into other aspects of our life--our sluggish-ness might not necessarily be laziness. Likely, many of us are dealing with the lingering fatigue from rapid-fire Zoom calls. It will take the same energy that Zoom sped into our lives to combat the fatigue, especially in an uncanny back-to-school season.

Many schools and colleges are going to attempt some hybrid or adjusted remote learning model. This means entering a new space of infrequent Zoom lectures and meetings, so while attending a Zoom lecture or meeting, try eliminating the distractions of other attendees: make a note-taking page full-screen or minimize the window of the video call. This simulates a phone call, which researchers suggest might be less taxing on the brain. As a multi-tasker, I am realizing that slowing down and devoting attention to solely one task helps with that fatigue. Unfortunately, this semester, I will have to retire binge-watching YouTube or writing an assignment for another class during my lecture.  

Even though many students are re-entering a space once familiar to them, the hybrid or reformed-remote learning models will likely re-introduce Zoom fatigue. The start of new school year is usually flush with adrenaline, but facing possible Zoom fatigue and other factors, the start of back-to-school might feel more draining. It will take an active effort to reform my wellness habits to curb, and hopefully fully thwart, this fatigue.

By: Tonie Chase