TORONTO – An influx of virtual meetings may not be the only factor that causes “zoom fatigue” in potentially millions of people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The design of videoconferencing applications itself may be killing you too, according to a group of American researchers.
Technology like Zoom – which went from 10 million users to over 300 million in a matter of months last year – imposes physical restrictions on users, requires more cognitive work, can be equivalent to a “mirror that lasts all day” and strength everyone to look at each other.
The combined physiological effects of these factors can be exhaustive, said researchers at Stanford University in California, who launched a new online study to measure Zoom fatigue.
“Zoom’s interface design constantly displays faces for everyone, regardless of who is speaking,” writes Jeremy N. Bailenson, professor of communication at Stanford University, in a new article published in Technology, Mind and Behavior.
“From a perceptual point of view, Zoom effectively turns listeners into speakers and suffocates everyone with their eyes.”
THE ‘EYE DANCE’
In a typical environment, people don’t look each other in the eye for long. Think of an elevator or an Uber ride. We develop social norms that allow us to look away for a long period of time.
In a meeting setting, people tend to use eye contact sparingly, said Jeff Hancock, founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab.
“The conversation is really like a stare dance,” he told CTVNews.ca on Zoom on Wednesday. People often make eye contact, recognize the connection, look away and come back at different intervals, partly because being watched causes physiological excitement and arouses the nervous system.
THE ‘MIRROR ALL DAY’
Videoconferencing applications also require an increase in “cognitive load”, which means that users send and receive more tips than in normal settings, including the need to fit in the camera, considering the volume of the voice and offering more physical reactions , how to wave to a talker.
While they may require more physical considerations, Zoom meetings also require less of us physically and can be restrictive, the researchers said. There is no rhythm in a room, drinking fountain breaks, or other movements that research has shown can cause better performance in meetings. Instead, we are stuck with the viewing “frustum”, the specific space in which the webcam fits the user.
Perhaps one of the biggest difficulties for some users of videoconferencing applications is what Stanford researchers have called a kind of “mirror that lasts all day”. The default setting in video applications like Zoom is to show the user a view from their own camera. Seeing yourself can have positive results, said Hancock, noting a study in which researchers placed a mirror in front of a bowl of sweets and found that people took more sweets when there was no mirror.
“Sometimes, being reminded of who we are and what we are trying to be – a good human being – can be valuable. But over time, if we just look at ourselves constantly in the mirror, it can lead to questions like ‘I don’t look the way I want’, ‘I’m not who I want to be’. It reminds us that we are not the ideal version, ”said Hancock.
REDUCING FATIGUE
There are some built-in strategies that videoconferencing users can use to reduce the impact of Zoom fatigue, the researchers said, such as the “Hide your own view” button to avoid the “mirror all day” effect. The researchers also recommend using an external webcam and keyboard to allow more screen space and vary the seating arrangement. They also suggest using the audio-only function in the applications or simply picking up the phone when video is not needed.
“Calls have driven productivity and social connection for many decades, and only a minority of calls require looking at someone else’s face to communicate successfully,” wrote Bailenson.
As part of the new online study, the team of Bailenson and Hancock developed a new framework for measuring Zoom fatigue in the hope that they can determine whether any of these strategies improve user reports about Zoom fatigue.