Why are video calls so exhausting?
Why do online meetings require so much more energy than in-person ones? We didn’t have to drag ourselves there or stress about how we looked below the waist, after all. Let’s investigate further.
1. Focusing on others triggers a stress response
Your level of fatigue may be impacted if you often use Zoom while seated stationary. Maintaining eye contact with other Zoom users while sitting straight causes our neurological and neuromuscular systems to go into what seems like a freeze reaction.
Our bodies recognize this as a stress reaction and communicate it to the brain, which results in a stress dosage being distributed throughout the body. Not the best situation if you’re trying to catch up on a job assignment.
2. Eye contact is intense
In a face-to-face conversation, we would typically sometimes glance away. On Zoom, though, it could come out as unpleasant and look like we’re preoccupied. Zoom meetings cause the opposite effect, whereas looking away helps the eyes to rest and allows our body to unwind.
We keep eye-to-eye contact throughout Zoom sessions, which is tremendously intense and uncomfortable for some individuals. You’re up close and personal with other people’s faces, gazing into their eyes in a way that only occurs in real life when you’re dating or in another equally private setting.
3. It’s yet another way to fill our time with screen activity
Your brain must deal with a considerably higher amount of information when you log into Zoom calls between emails and other screen activities. We’re all guilty of scrolling through our phones as a break from gazing at our computers. This is not sustainable.
Additionally, we anticipate that there will be a backlog of emails after we end the video session, adding to the information overload. Every minute that is packed with activity increases anxiety, lengthens the workday, and reduces our free time.
4. We can’t read body language
Without without realizing it, we get information about those we are around via their body language or reading their facial expressions. On video chats, this is more difficult since our brains must work harder to interpret the surroundings, which may be draining.
In real life, we would see a person as a whole, and our brain would interpret other people’s body language as safety indicators. Do we feel at ease around them and do we like them? Your brain works overtime to attempt to read someone when you can only see a tiny portion of them and they are not moving. This keeps you on high alert while your brain processes the scant information it has. That effect is amplified if you have a large caller base.
The brain needs to work extra hard to process the information while we’re on Zoom or another sort of video chat. This requires a lot of mental effort and energy, which is why you could feel worn out or worried after a lengthy Zoom chat.
5. It chips away at our self-worth
How often do you observe participants in Zoom meetings adjusting their facial expressions or playing with their hair as if they were shooting a selfie? We devote the same amount of time to evaluating ourselves as we do others. We had never been required to attend a conference, breakfast, or family gathering where we had to spend hours staring in the mirror. We have a brain that is inundated with considerably more information than would occur elsewhere when we combine anxieties about appearance, which many people claim is a worry on Zoom, with all the other elements.
combined with “I’m being noticed!”
“How do I look?” and “.”
creates anxiety, which must be handled in the moment via calmness. This requires us to practice more restraint, which is draining as well.
6. Tired and itchy ‘Zoom eyes’
Ophthalmologists refer to this condition as “Zoom eyes” if you have heavy, fatigued eyes that are red, itchy, or overwatering. By the end of the day, you can no longer gaze at a screen, which is one of the most noticeable symptoms.
We blink six to eight times less frequently when video chatting or staring at a screen than usual. As a result, your tears, which act as little sips of water to keep your eyes moist, are not replaced as frequently. When you are on a Zoom call, your eyes feel almost parched.
