Working in 2022: more taxing than ever!

You did indeed read that right! Working today also entails remote communications for more than a quarter of employed Canadians (The Daily, 2022). Moreover, since the turn of the decade, virtual meetings are counted in the hundreds of millions, on a daily basis! Evidently, the advantages of this practice modality are well known it favours the accessibility of services, and their frequency, it allows to optimize remote collaboration and, generally speaking, the efficiency of videoconferencing practices would not be less than in person. However, many teleworkers now feel more exhausted than before at the end of a workday.

How do we explain this exhaustion? In particular, there are two types of fatigue that stem from the virtual advent: the so-called “zoom” fatigue or video fatigue in general. The first refers to the experience of fatigue during and/or after a videoconference, regardless of the specific videoconferencing (VC) system used (Döring et al., 2022). The second one, less common than the one before it, on the other hand, affects workers who use digital communication channels to communicate with colleagues and customers daily (Teams, for example). Let’s look at what sets them apart and, more importantly, what strategies can mitigate their impact.

Video or ”zoom” fatigue

How can one justify being more tired after a virtual meeting than a face-to-face one? At first glance, this may seem like a trivial matter, but several causes lead to greater user fatigue and can ultimately compromise well-being (Bennett et al., 2021). When dealing with face-to-face interactions, we rarely have to remember to activate our voice to speak, or we may be faced with someone’s face freezing as we were addressing them! Silence is also quite normal in face-to-face conversations, whereas it can come across as awkward in virtual meetings, among other interpretations.

Specifically, it is partly because VC forces us to concentrate more carefully to assimilate the information. Think about it for a moment: who has never, in a conference room or a large group presentation, for example, discreetly asked a colleague for clarification without necessarily disturbing the whole group? In VC, whispering is not that feasible, unless you use the chat function (we’ll circle back on that one) or awkwardly try to chime in and ask the speaker to repeat. Often, the conversation moves on quickly and the opportunity to intervene is quickly lost.

Many distractions

There are many distractions from home that make our meetings, even more, demanding on our attention spans than face-to-face meetings: who hasn’t packed lunch like some kind of Ninja so as not to disturb a relative or roommate in a meeting, or tried to grab their headphones while crawling on the floor to avoid appearing in a meeting? The problem is compounded when we decide that we can simultaneously listen to the meeting, read an incoming email, text a friend about Saturday night’s outing, answer a question via chat, and discreetly (?) mime a yes or no in response to a whispered question from our spouse, all within the same 5-minute time frame.

More specifically for VC, it’s also what keeps our attention that is exhausting: in a virtual meeting, one of the only ways to show we’re paying attention is to look (stare) at the camera, which is only a few inches away from our screen. Let’s be honest – who stands within a few inches of a colleague in a face-to-face meeting and stares at them for an hour? This constant staring at our screen – and more specifically, what we look like on the screen – is a big factor in our exhaustion. It’s a proven fact: most of us pay continuous attention to the little window in which we appear, causing us to pay close attention to every detail and expression (and how they might be interpreted). Since in person we don’t often (if ever) see our own reflection, the imposed and continuous observation of one’s representations implies a certain degree of attention that doesn’t exist in person and, in that sense, demands an unusual level of energy.

It must also be said that the amount of eye contact we make in VC, as well as the size of the faces on the screen, makes it unnatural: in a face-to-face meeting, participants look at their interlocutor, take notes or look away. In VC, everyone looks at each other, continuously. Even if you’re not talking, you still find yourself staring at the people who are staring back at you, which can cause additional stress for some people.

Do you see what I’m getting at? In person, we can use our peripheral vision to look out the window or at others in the room. On a video call, since we are all physically in different places if our colleagues turn to look out the window, we mostly feel that they are not paying attention. Yet, with this greater attentional demand weighing on our new daily lives, we need to find strategies that allow our brains to rest.

Fortunately, a few years have passed since the first lockdown and research on the subject has identified a few tricks to minimize the impact of this fatigue on our attention span:

1. Avoid multitasking

While it is not very respectful of our audience, we’ve all done it before; it’s all too easy to think that we can take advantage of a presentation to do more at the same time. However, research (and my personal experience!) actually shows that trying to multitask significantly reduces our efficiency and therefore, our performance. Since different tasks require various parts of our brain to work, switching from one task to another can cause us to lose up to 40% of our cognitive capacity (Harvard Business Review, 2020). Especially since, when we are not really paying attention, we miss vital details (verbal or non-verbal).

The next time you are in a virtual meeting, I recommend closing any distracting tabs or programs, putting your phone away and paying attention – trust me, it’s not as easy as it sounds! We know it’s tempting but try to remember that the message you just received can wait 15 minutes, and that your response may be more thoughtful, less rushed, and therefore more beneficial to the recipient if you wait until you finish your call before responding.

2. Allow yourself to take breaks

Obviously, it’s a good idea to take several short breaks and get away from your screen when working remotely. For those days when you can’t avoid back-to-back meetings, try opting for 25- or 50-minute meetings (instead of the usual half-hour and hour). Those few minutes you save will allow you to take a short break from the screen (cell phone included!) and stretch your legs.

3. Make time to get the blood pumping

During face-to-face meetings, you have no choice but to physically move from one meeting to another. However, remotely, you can bounce from one meeting to the next without much effort. You should therefore take advantage of every moment of “freedom” allotted to you to get up and walk around a bit.

4. Limit your screen distractions

When speaking in VC, we tend to spend more time looking at ourselves than at others, or at least to be more aware of what people are looking at us – this can impact how we perform in our communications. A simple trick to limit the attention we give to our own communication is to use the “hide for me” option on our own video.

But the distractions don’t stop there. In virtual communication, and without necessarily realizing it, we focus not only on the person to whom we’re speaking but also on whatever features in their background: may it be their decor, frames, diplomas, plants, furniture, pile of books… let alone a meeting with five people, where we’re under the impression of being teleported into five different rooms at once. The brain must therefore process all these visual elements at the same time; an attentional load that goes far beyond that of face-to-face communication.

To combat the cognitive fatigue caused by these distractions, encourage participants to use simple backgrounds (often offered by VC platforms). At least, try to do so yourself to encourage your audience to focus on what you are saying, rather than what is around you.

5. Remember that some conversations can be dealt via email or over the phone

Before the pandemic, it was customary practice to talk over the phone. Strangely, this habit has dwindled in popularity, leaving VCs as the “default” solution for most of our communications.

Remember that you can prioritize phone calls and sometimes avoid one more video meeting! For calls that are expected to be short, with external partners you know more or less, don’t feel “obliged” to opt for video; feel free to call your old friend the phone again!

Chat exhaustion

We’re all guilty of this: systematically stopping what we’re doing to consult/respond to an incoming chat, thinking that it won’t take too long anyway (“instant” messaging being in the name itself!). Indeed, ever since the advent of the virtual world, chats have taken over most informal interactions we had in person. However, they are actually an important form of distraction that adds to the cognitive load which is only exacerbated remotely. Here are some simple tips to help you focus despite these distractions:

• Change your status (and hope your colleagues respect them!): busy? Press on that “do not disturb” button. Don’t want to be interrupted during a presentation? Be clear about it: “currently in a presentation”.
• Feel free to turn off notifications: especially for newsgroups that tend to share more memes/gifs than serious requests. Feel free to turn them back on or off at the end of the day!
• Identify chat times: Feel free to close the application and return to it when you are no longer in focus. Of course, let your colleagues know in advance and make sure they can reach you in case of an emergency.

What we need to remember is that virtual work carries a cognitive load that is greater than that of face-to-face work. It is therefore important to have methods or strategies to minimize the distractions of our new modes of communication.

Finally, these small gestures are relatively simple but can significantly support our attentional capacities while minimizing the impacts of fatigue caused by this virtual work modality.

What am I looking for? That you didn’t read this article while on a video conference call – or while driving a car! But that’s a whole other story!

 

Audrey-Ann Tully de Cotret, M.SC., PHD (CDT)

Associate Head of Practice, Academy