# A Theory of Zoom Fatigue - The Convivial Society

<https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/a-theory-of-zoom-fatigue>

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- Saved: April 23, 2020 (2020-04-24T03:21:15Z)
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## What Jamie wrote

I have absolutely felt this over the last few weeks. Being on video calls throughout the day leaves me drained in a way that I haven't been able to understand. Obviously it’s not physically demanding, but it’s physically draining nonetheless.

> The problem with video-conferencing is that the body is but isn’t there. This means that our minds are at least partly frustrated as they deploy their non-conscious repertoire of perceptive skills. The situation is more like a face-to-face encounter than most any other medium, but, for that very reason, it frustrates us because it is, nonetheless, significantly different. I suppose we might think of it as something like a conversational uncanny valley. The full range of what the mind assumes should be available to it when it perceives a body, simply isn’t there.

This article is an interesting way of looking at that.

> What all of this amounts to, then, is a physically, cognitively, and emotionally taxing experience for many users as our minds undertake the work of making sense of things under such circumstances. We might think of it as a case of ordinarily unconscious processes operating at max capacity to help us make sense of what we’re experiencing.

This resonates strongly with me.

There is one other thing that I wonder about. When you are around other people you are also getting energy from that engagement. I wonder though if when this is over video, if the amount of energy you get is reduced, thus putting you in a further deficit. More energy spent, and less energy gained.

## Facts

- Kind: [Newsletter](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/newsletter/)

## Appears in

- [WT145: Weekly Thing #145 / Permanent, Coronavirus, Zoom Fatigue](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/145/), Must Read

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## Elsewhere

- Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/a-theory-of-zoom-fatigue