Zoom Fatigue

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Here at Speaking Works in Hove, I have been thinking about Zoom fatigue for a while…

Zoom is big, with 50 million new users and counting (according to the New Yorker) it has exploded to become the saving grace of human interaction in a locked down world. Being a voice coach I celebrated it at the beginning - anything that keeps us connected and talking can only be a positive surely? Yes and no! As with everything good (chocolate, cheese and pastries) it must be consumed in moderation, however, never fear - there are things to learn and techniques to develop if you are a frequent Zoom user.

I first mentioned ‘zoom fatigue’, a now fully coined term, back on Instagram on the 7th of May. I had been talking to clients about the stress and exhaustion they felt by being on group calls all day, trying to help them understand the impact that online communication has on our mind, body and voice.

I have since delayed this blog post twice due to articles being published on the subject as I wanted to make sure I could incorporate some of their findings from psychologists. Articles are now coming out by the bucket load so there is plenty to read around the subject!

Why is Zoom causing fatigue?

It is much harder to communicate online. We have to be ‘switched on’ all the time, working hard to concentrate and endlessly read every flicker of movement from others. We are primal beings, programmed to constantly process body language, tone of voice, facial expressions and timings of speech and movement. As a lot of these are missed in a virtual world our brain is having to work overtime to fill in the gaps. Whilst all that is going on we still need to get the gist of what is being said, no wonder we are so tired!

The problem…

Disrupting synchrony - The Wall Street Journal & The Times articles on Zoom Fatigue quote Jeremy Bailenson (Professor of Communication at Stanford and founding director of the Virtual Human Interaction Lab) discussing the perils of loosing synchrony. Not being able to make eye contact simultaneously, or follow the finite movements we make when speaking means that all our non verbal communications are out of synch, we are no longer in tune with each other. The WSJ discusses small scale studies by Bailenson, who states that, “Zoom smothers you with cues, and they aren’t synchronous. It takes a physiological toll”. Our brains are working overtime to make up for this lost synchrony.

We are also reading other signals in completely the wrong way. Let me paint a familiar picture; John raises an eyebrow, Sandra has a furrowed brow and Ayush has started looking elsewhere on the screen. This can very quickly be translated by us to mean that he doesn’t like what I am saying, she wants me to stop talking and he must be disinterested. What it could actually mean in this forum is that John’s picture has frozen, Sandra has a connection lag whilst Ayush is receiving an urgent message from his partner to come and take over the childcare! No wonder we are all struggling with imposter syndrome and are totally exhausted in online meetings.

Work/life boundaries - The blending of work and personal communication is also making things difficult. I am someone who loves to talk but I haven’t been doing many social Zoom calls as I don’t have any energy left. Environment also plays a negative role here, the fact that it still feels like work by being on my computer prevents me from feeling relaxed.

Looking at yourself - This is so distracting! It isn’t that we are all vain and constantly admiring ourselves, far from it, we are getting too much feedback as we are programmed to analyse and improve, it is all very confusing.

My Tips and Suggestions…

1) Pick up the phone - Starting with the obvious point first. Pick up the phone when you can, it worked pretty well in the past! If it has to be on Zoom you could agree with your team to check in and say hello before turning off your cameras. A few friends have mentioned ‘no Zoom Fridays’ which sounds good!

2) Hide your face! - I have been advising clients to put a post-it over their picture on screen! Or you can switch your image off, right-click your video to display the menu, choose ‘hide myself’. You can’t see the image but others can. 

3) Wake yourself up - Add energy to the conversation. Between calls, wake up your body, shake yourself out, open the window, jump up and down, drink some water and lean over to one side whilst patting your ribs to get more air in your lungs. You then might have enough oomph to smile more and present yourself with authority and passion. By doing so you immediately make both you and your audience feel better and more energised. There is science behind this, trust me!

3) Talking to the camera lens vs looking away - If you want to deliver a particular part of your meeting with impact and gravitas try talking directly to the camera lens briefly. If we were face to face I would advise you to make lots of eye contact but in this environment, it is uncomfortable to look into that tiny lens for long and also intimidating to your audience; it can even send some into fight/flight mode if they are working off a particularly big screen. As Bailenson also points out, if someone is staring at you right in the eye we normally associate this with fear or romance!

It is necessary in parts of the conversation to pay full attention to your screen and make sure you are showing people how present you are but often we listen better to others when we shut off the visual cortex. When I was on my MA studying dialects and accents I was much better at breaking down an accent by listening to someone when I was looking at the floor! Just explain to your team that sometimes you might look away from the screen to listen without distraction. We rely on using our peripheral vision when in a room but we can’t do this on our computer. Active listening is a good thing so we should be trying to listen properly whenever possible, however, this is a delicate bit of advice so please make sure you are still engaging properly with your audience at the appropriate times.

4) Turn off other distractions - Try not to multitask, you will look disinterested and it is likely to raise your panic response as you get overwhelmed. Try switching to speaker view sometimes so that you aren’t trying to process everyones non-verbal cues.

6) Use your upper body - The hand raise is a great idea from Zoom but it is a bit clunky to use in the moment and feels a bit like being at school. Try remembering your upper body and the more you use it to gesticulate the more you can engage your audience and show them that you are still speaking. I would recommend gently exaggerating gestures you would normally employ for turn taking in conversations. Also, for teams that already know each other you could try agreeing beforehand to pop your hand up briefly when you would like to make the next point, it may take some trial and error but if you work together it might make life easier.

7) Manage nerves - A BBC article quotes Marissa Shuffler (Associate Professor at Clemson University) who studies workplace wellbeing and teamwork effectiveness, highlighting what happens on screen: “so there comes the social pressure and feeling like you need to perform. Being performative is nerve-wracking and more stressful.” We need to break away from feeling like we are on show, trying to stay as relaxed as possible is key. If we are always stressed we become tight and remain in fight/flight mode. Try to imagine you are talking to friends in your living room, relax the body and take longer breaths to trigger your rest and digest response.

8) The sound of silence - Don’t panic with delays and lags, try to keep calm. People tend to be scared of silences but confidence and clarity come out of pauses. Don’t go into a panic, keep breathing low and slow to keep your fight/flight at bay. When you feel everyone is back on the connection take the opportunity to repeat or recap so that everyone is on the same page.

I hope you can avoid Zoom fatigue and take regular breaks wherever possible.

Get in touch to book a 1:1 or attend a group session.

Jude Bolton, Voice & Communications Coach, MA Voice Studies RCSSD.

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