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A theory of Zoom fatigue

theconvivialsociety.substack.com

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Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#121

Post by notacoward »

killjoywashere wrote: post #86
lisper wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have very clear memories of my first overseas long-distance calls in the 1980s, which were over a satellite link. The latency was so pronounced (about half a second) that carrying out a conversation took quite a bit of practice. You almost had to carry out a formal protocol of handing over control of the line, as if you were on a walkie-talkie. I have equally clear memories of my first overseas calls carried by und…

I'm in the military. I have found that the habit of saying "over", learned as crowded circuit management for open radio circuits, is quite useful in teleconferences and VTCs, and for similar reason. It makes it clear that you're handing over the circuit. "Out" means you're leaving the circuit.

I think that can work well, as long as people also adopt the military/aviation habit of speaking crisply and not rambling on to hog the channel until they're absolutely sure they've emptied themselves of every possible thought they could ever have on the matter. Like I just did with every word after "rambling on". ;)

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#122

Post by oever »

osdiab wrote: post #70
djsumdog wrote: post #6

I don't know about those theories. I suspect something else. Do you remember landlines, and how responsive they were? You would say things back and fourth and the conversation just worked, even on three-way and conference calls? There was very little noticeable lag! Even in the early cellphone days, I'd often prefer using my landline. There was less lag. Cellphones felt like speakerphones where it tries to do that ca…

Anyone have suggestions for the lowest latency VoIP providers?

I'm using Jamulus for making music with others. It has can reach latencies of < 25ms. Chatting over Jamulus is much more pleasant than talking over a video conferencing application.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#123

Post by oarsinsync »

dylan604 wrote: post #40
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…

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…

It can help with loneliness when you're living alone, isolating alone, and are used to having people around you for 8 hours a day in an office.

This isn't true for everyone, but certainly is for many.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#124

Post by PeterStuer »

I'll take a 1 hour Zoom call over the 1:30h commute to meeting in traffic jams, 1 hour meeting, 1:30h back in traffic jams any day.

Any 'Zoom Fatigue' I'll shrug off with a nice walk and a coffee in 30 minutes. The stress from spending 3hrs bumper to bumper ruins more than just the entire day.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#125

Post by implements »

killjoywashere wrote: post #86
lisper wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have very clear memories of my first overseas long-distance calls in the 1980s, which were over a satellite link. The latency was so pronounced (about half a second) that carrying out a conversation took quite a bit of practice. You almost had to carry out a formal protocol of handing over control of the line, as if you were on a walkie-talkie. I have equally clear memories of my first overseas calls carried by und…

I'm in the military. I have found that the habit of saying "over", learned as crowded circuit management for open radio circuits, is quite useful in teleconferences and VTCs, and for similar reason. It makes it clear that you're handing over the circuit. "Out" means you're leaving the circuit.

I gather some senior military people answer calls with a curt “Speak!” - and will get the hump if a junior presumes to “Out” them.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#126

Post by chapium »

fastball wrote: post #103
zjs wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Maybe someone needs to add a feature to their video calling solution where you can press a button to "raise your hand".

Cisco meeting software has this and its almost never used.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#127

Post by ayodio »

It is exactly the same as why we can't drive as well while on the phone.

When face to face with someone every possible audio frequencies emited by the other person will reach you. This means your brain won't have much work to do to make sense of this information since it is 'complete'.

In a zoom meeting in most cases everybody is on his laptop using the built in laptop microphone. This means the sound will be mediocre at best concidering there isn't any network issue. Voice quality will be compressed and lack certain frequencies that you don't notice but help you decypher more quickly the other person speech.

That means that the brain energy necessary to only be able to understand the person in a zoom meeting for the same amount of time is more important than in a real life meeting.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#128

Post by DebtDeflation »

I find the video component to be completely superfluous and often distracting. The combination of audio, screen-sharing, and chat are more than adequate for accomplishing the task at hand. I don't need to watch grainy, stuttering video of my co-workers in sweat pants to be productive.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#129

Post by galoisgirl »

rhplus wrote: post #48

I find leaving a call to be difficult. In the real world, someone just “dropping in” to a meeting room can nod, wave, or gesture to say hi, find the right moment to enter the conversation, make a point and then leave with the same nod, wave or gesture. You can’t do that on a video call without either seeming rude (“Foo has left the call”) or breaking the main conversation flow (“Hey everyone, I’m gonna leave now”). I…

I have the same issue with vim.

Re: A theory of Zoom fatigue

#130

Post by C1sc0cat »

lisper wrote: post #41
saurik wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Landlines were so fast and so "direct" in their latency (where distance correlates very directly with time, due to a lack of "hops") that local phone calls were faster than the speed of sound across a table, and for a bit after they came out--before people generally got used to seemingly random latency--local calls felt "intimate", like as if you were talking to someone in bed with their head right next to you; I als…

I have very clear memories of my first overseas long-distance calls in the 1980s, which were over a satellite link. The latency was so pronounced (about half a second) that carrying out a conversation took quite a bit of practice. You almost had to carry out a formal protocol of handing over control of the line, as if you were on a walkie-talkie. I have equally clear memories of my first overseas calls carried by und…

There was a hack to force a call over cable I used to use when I did a lot of international calls for BT when I worked on international interconnect for x.400
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