Does every meeting need to be a Zoom call? Americans are celebrating the one-year anniversary of the orders to stay home and work remotely with a growing sense of pandemic fatigue. AND a new study he finds that looking at the faces of his co-workers, up close and personal, and his own is probably activating his survival “fight or flight” reflex.
“The brain is particularly attentive to faces, and when we see big faces, we interpret them as close. Our ‘fight or flight’ reflex responds,” Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Laboratory, told Business Insider. He added: “From an evolutionary point of view, if there was a very large human face close to you, and it was looking straight into your eyes, you would probably be involved in conflict or mating. None of the answers is a good fit for a work meeting.”
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They are not, but the number of users on Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms skyrocketed from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands last year. And while they are physically distant, users are making prolonged eye contact across the screen at a close distance for longer periods than ever before. At the same time, the non-verbal cues are distorted (is your boss making a face at what you just said or is a family member out of sight of the camera?) And physical movements are restricted.
It’s not just looking at others’ faces in a box all day that makes you tired of videoconferencing, but also looking at your own face. Seeing your image reflected in the camera can be stressful, research shows, leading to self-criticism and negative consequences for mental health in a conscious and unconscious way.
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Even with the gradual return of Americans to the workplace next year, “video conferencing is here to stay,” concludes Bailenson. Like many other pandemic phenomena, Zoom and its equivalents are likely to become part of the new normal.
“Even when face-to-face meetings will be safe again, it is likely that the culture has finally changed enough to remove some of the stigmas previously held against virtual meetings,” he wrote. “With minor changes to the interface, Zoom has the potential to continue. increase productivity and reduce carbon emissions by replacing daily commuting. “
For this reason, Bailenson says that while he is not choosing Zoom to “defame” the company, there are minor and major changes that can improve the experience. New technologies, such as virtual reality, can also provide better solutions to the limitations of virtual interactions.
Until then, the next time you are planning a meeting, ask yourself: could this meeting be a phone call? Or better yet – an email?
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