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TORONTO – An influx of virtual meetings may not be the only factor causing ‘zoom fatigue’ in millions of potential people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The very design of video conferencing applications could also crush you, according to a group of American researchers.
Technology like Zoom – which grew from 10 million users to over 300 million in just a few months last year – places physical strain on users, requires more cognitive work, can be a “mirror that lasts all day And forces everyone to look at each other.
The combined physiological effects of these factors can be exhausting, said researchers at Stanford University in California, who have launched a new study online to measure zoom fatigue.
“Zoom’s interface design constantly diffuses faces to everyone, regardless of who’s speaking,” writes Jeremy N. Bailenson, professor of communications at Stanford University, in a new article published in the journal. Technology, Mind and Behavior.
“From a perceptual standpoint, Zoom effectively turns listeners into speakers and stifles everyone with the gaze.”
THE “GASEOUS DANCE”
In a typical environment, people don’t look each other in the eye for that long. Think of an elevator or an Uber ride. We have developed social norms that allow you to avoid your gaze for an extended period.
In a meeting environment, people tend to use eye contact sparingly, said Jeff Hancock, founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab.
“The conversation is really like a gaze dance,” he told CTVNews.ca on Zoom Wednesday. People often make eye contact, recognize the connection, look away, and come back at different intervals, in part because being watched causes physiological arousal and arouses the nervous system.
THE MIRROR ALL DAY
Video conferencing applications also require increased ‘cognitive load’, meaning that users send and receive more cues than in normal settings, including the need to frame themselves in the camera, taking into account the volume of their voice. voice and offering more physical reactions like nodding. a speaker.
While they may require more physical considerations, Zoom meetings also require less of us physically and can feel overwhelming, the researchers said. There’s no rhythm around a room, water cooler breaks, or other movements that research shows can improve meeting performance. Instead, we’re glued to the viewing “frustum”, the specific space in which the webcam frames the user.
Perhaps one of the biggest constraints for some users of video conferencing applications is what Stanford researchers have called a sort of “all-day mirror.” The default setting on video apps like Zoom is to show the user a view from their own camera. Seeing yourself can have positive results, Hancock said, noting a study in which researchers placed a mirror in front of a bowl of candy and found that people took more candy when there was no mirror. .
“Sometimes remembering who we are and what we’re trying to be – a good human – can be invaluable. But over time, if we constantly look at ourselves in the mirror, it can lead to questions like “I don’t look like I want to look”, “I am not who I want to be”. It reminds us that we are not that ideal version, ”Hancock said.
REDUCE FATIGUE
There are built-in strategies that video conferencing users can use to reduce the impact of zoom fatigue, the researchers said, such as the “Hide self-image” button to avoid the “all-day mirror” effect. . The researchers also recommend using an external webcam and keyboard to allow more screen space and to vary the seating arrangement. They also suggest using the audio function only on apps, or just picking up the phone when video is not needed.
“Phone calls have boosted productivity and social connection for many decades, and only a minority of calls require looking at another person’s face to communicate successfully,” Bailenson wrote.
As part of the new online study, Bailenson and Hancock’s team developed a new framework to measure Zoom’s fatigue in the hopes of being able to determine whether any of these strategies improve user reports on Zoom fatigue.
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