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Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

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21–30 of 130 posts

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#21
I like that Teams added the option to hide your self-view. Even if you don't focus on it, just having a slightly delayed mirror copy of yourself in the corner of the screen is mildly distracting. It feels more natural talking to a group of people that doesn't include yourself.

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#24
The biggest thing that leads to this, I think, is bad audio. Listening to shitty scratchy laptop microphones -- or even the comparatively-excellent Apple array microphones -- is deeply fatiguing. I notice a distinct difference in energy expended when I'm on a call with people who have low/zero background noise and decent-quality microphones, and others have noted that about me (as I'm also an audio engineer in my spare time and tend to have pretty good audio and video in teleconferences).

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#25

I suppose it's good to investigate what exactly is happening, but surely we didn't need to do a scientific study to check if it exists? Have we now advanced empiricism so far that experiencing something yourself is not enough any more? Anyway, just to make sure I suppose we'd better gather some volunteers to make sure running long distances makes people tired.

A: I hate being in zoom meetings all day.

B: Do you have a peer reviewed study about it?

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#26

We got accustomed to it, but it never stopped feeling super weird, I think, somewhere deep in our heads. A wall of faces staring at your neck is not what any real in-person thing feels like. A wall of facings looking in your eyes isn’t, either, for that matter, but the constantly-averted-gazes do add even more to the weirdness. You don’t feel so constantly watched in person, unless you’re doing a presentation. I did…

I always found the audio on phone calls awful. In addition, I cannot see who is on the call, there is no indicator who is speaking, no visual cues who is getting ready to step in. No ability to read the room because you cannot see anyone. It's just awful.

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#27
post #20
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely hate calls. WFH works well when you just need to grind out something solo, but it’s awful to communicate. Personally I go in the office 1-2 days a week. If you want to talk to me, do it in person those days. If you add me to some 10 person video call. I’m just going to zone out.

I feel like you need to compare a 10 person video call with a 10 person in office meeting. And of course, a hallway chat vs a 1-1 zoom call or discord exchange.

Ten person meetings have felt better for me in person. I think it's because there's more room for impromptu overlapping discussions, which Zoom doesn't support well.

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#29
post #21

I like that Teams added the option to hide your self-view. Even if you don't focus on it, just having a slightly delayed mirror copy of yourself in the corner of the screen is mildly distracting. It feels more natural talking to a group of people that doesn't include yourself.

I’ll be the first to admit it’s hard to not stare at myself if I don’t turn off self view.

Not in any sort of vain way (at least I don’t think??), but something about seeing myself makes me look.

Re: Zoom Fatigue Is Real, According to Brain Scans

#30
post #9

We got accustomed to it, but it never stopped feeling super weird, I think, somewhere deep in our heads. A wall of faces staring at your neck is not what any real in-person thing feels like. A wall of facings looking in your eyes isn’t, either, for that matter, but the constantly-averted-gazes do add even more to the weirdness. You don’t feel so constantly watched in person, unless you’re doing a presentation. I did…

I absolutely hate calls. WFH works well when you just need to grind out something solo, but it’s awful to communicate. Personally I go in the office 1-2 days a week. If you want to talk to me, do it in person those days. If you add me to some 10 person video call. I’m just going to zone out.

I absolutely love calls, you don't have to type and you have the other person's (relatively) undivided attention. Plus cajoling, browbeating and instigating techniques work better and if called out you can put things down to 'tonal misunderstanding.' Also a lot of people these days can't truly understand written content because they don't grasp nuance and only interpret things literally. When you actually talk to them they tend to be a little less robotic and start inferring more so you don't have to spell things out so elaborately.
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