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A theory of Zoom fatigue

theconvivialsociety.substack.com

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Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#91

Post by saagarjha »

saurik wrote: post #78
hunter2_ wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no compelling reason we couldn't have IP audio links (with an easy calling interface) that have no such compression artifacts. I would actually call it more of a noise gate issue perhaps trying to save bandwidth by maximizing the compressibility of quiet parts as if they're total silence, signal off. That kills the intimacy IMO. We've had it for so long now with digital cell phone calls, even HD calling, cert…

The process of waiting to create the first packet to send (even with no compression) will always be slower than a system where you just send the audio instantly as an analog signal. Even the process of waiting for a single "sample" of audio (for a tiny tiny packet) is technically slower (but of course no one does that: they tend to group together at least 2ms of audio into a packet). The only way you can go faster th…

I believe the velocity factor actually depends mostly on the dielectric insulator used.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#92

Post by mh- »

sudosteph wrote: post #25
mjayhn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My problem is I can't multitask during a zoom at all. I'm so anxious that someone will ask me a question so I'm tuned in the entire time while everyone else is pretty obviously off working on the side. I also find that I stare at myself fidgeting. It's nowhere near as bad as in person where I just want to not talk at all, though. Also if everyone is on different timezones please don't make us turn on webcams. I'm get…

Yeah, I tend to hyperfocus so I don't miss a question too. But I figure that kinda should be the point of a meeting, so it's understandable, even if it's tiring. If everyone else is making it bad by multitasking, they need to get a handle on that. Zoom could add a bunch of features to help people run better meetings (a way to pass a ball around to select who's speaking, hand raising emoji, dynamic topic queues with v…

>(a way to pass a ball around to select who's speaking, hand raising emoji, dynamic topic queues with votes)

I'm no Zoom apologist, but.. it has a 'raise hand' emoji/action, as well as a topic queue (in Q&A format). it also has "go faster" and "go slower" feedback attendees can display to the presenter in realtime.

I like the talking stick^W ball idea, though.

Lots of this stuff is in off-by-default preferences in Zoom, FYI.

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115001286183-Nonve...

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#93

Post by erinaceousjones »

sethammons wrote: post #84
amelius wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get a similar kind of exhaustion when talking to assistants like Siri.

it is interesting. I don't get exhaustion because I don't talk to the assistants that much, but people talk to their virtual assistants in a different cadence or register. Instead of "alexacanyoutellmethetime?" it is "ALEXA...WHAT...TIME...IS...IT."

Owning an Alphabet Corp Branded Espionage Hockey Puck (tm) myself, I must admit I'm fairly impressed at how far voice recognition and natural language processing has come, despite this. I remember when you really had to talk in that stilted, properly pronounced, methodical way, and then tentatively wait for a response for what seemed an age -- and it wasn't that long ago (maybe like, four or five years?). Nowadays, I can vaguely mumble at mine from the other room without thinking too much about sentence structure or how I'm pronouncing words or the volume or speed of my dictation or switching off things making background noise, and it usually does the right thing, and responds about as quickly as a person. It definitely feels a lot less mentally draining!

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#96

Post by DarkWiiPlayer »

vosper wrote: post #76
lostdog wrote: post #18

Lots of normal things about human interaction are broken in Zoom meetings. * You can't have a normal conversation with that much delay. Every time you talk you're probably interrupting someone, and that starts to wear on you. * You can't have any side chats with your neighbors before and after the meeting, making everyone seem less like a person. * You can't tell who's looking at you, so you always feel like you have…

> if the layout is fixed, sound isn't coming from anywhere in particular, so you need to search around for who's talking. I’ve wondered about this - why aren’t individual speakers (people) each placed somewhere different on the stereo plane? Is it because the video is in front of us and having people sound like there coming from the sides could be distracting, by drawing our attention away from the screen? It must ha…

Teamspeak (although that's audio only) allows you to place other speakers around you in 3D; I haven't tried it much, but I imagine it could be quite useful on certain situations.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#97

Post by mnsc »

zjs wrote: post #79
dylan604 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why the fixation on a video call? I'm probably just an old curmudgeon, but to me the benefits do not out weigh the oddities being discussed. Everyone wearing their pieces of flair with their "personalized" backgrounds are tiresome. I can see the benefits of a screen share/presentation, but I really don't need to see the other people involved. I don't care about tone of voice. I get sarcasm. For the people that don…

In part due to the latency noted elsewhere in the comments, I find myself interrupting people more when I'm remote. With video on, the visual cue of someone getting ready to start talking makes that easier to avoid. Secondarily, I have a much better time assessing whether other attendees are following a conversation. If I'm feeling lost, but everyone else looks like they're following along, maybe it's just me — and I…

> With video on, the visual cue of someone getting ready to start talking makes that easier to avoid.

You have the possibility of using an actual raised hand to signal that you want to interrupt a discussion that has gone astray. But that only works in settings where all participants are visible even when silent.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#98

Post by Moru »

voldacar wrote: post #77
osdiab wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone have suggestions for the lowest latency VoIP providers?

set up a mumble server. latency is <20ms, which is far better than discord and the like

And you can run it on your pi-hole for at least a few users, only tried 3-4 users so far though.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#99

Post by kohtatsu »

erinaceousjones wrote: post #93
sethammons wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is interesting. I don't get exhaustion because I don't talk to the assistants that much, but people talk to their virtual assistants in a different cadence or register. Instead of "alexacanyoutellmethetime?" it is "ALEXA...WHAT...TIME...IS...IT."

Owning an Alphabet Corp Branded Espionage Hockey Puck (tm) myself, I must admit I'm fairly impressed at how far voice recognition and natural language processing has come, despite this. I remember when you really had to talk in that stilted, properly pronounced, methodical way, and then tentatively wait for a response for what seemed an age -- and it wasn't that long ago (maybe like, four or five years?). Nowadays, I…

I talk to Siri casually when I request her the few times a week I do.

FWIW I say please & thank you too, and am opted-in to "Improve Siri" which Apple really ought to known to make opt-in from the start.

I also have type-to-Siri (in accessibility settings) for things like "What's playing?".

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#100

Post by asdf21 »

sudosteph wrote: post #14

Any other Autism Spectrum or ADHD people who feel less fatigued by video meetings compared to IRL? The things I like: - having the range of activity during a meeting constrained to one area in front of me so I don't have to look around the room to make sure I'm not missing something / get overstimulated by too much stuff happening. - Boxes with borders lighting up when someone is making noise / talking so I know wher…

Yep, me for sure, I love it.
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