A Theory of Zoom Fatigue - The Convivial Society

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.