Zoom Fatigue: Is Tech Tiring You Out? (And How to Recharge)

Lockdown has forced today’s workforce to rely more heavily on technology than ever before – from video conference calls to small talk over Skype. But is technology boosting our productivity, or making us feel groggy and isolated? Here’s why you might be tired in lockdown, and how to fix it.

In December 2019, video conferencing platform Zoom welcomed around 10 million meeting participants a day. In April, the figure rose to 300 million. Likewise, Microsoft Teams has had a 70% spike in daily active users, and Google Meet is welcoming three million new users every day.

But not only is our uptake in tech happening between colleagues and departments, it’s changing the way we meet our customers’ demands.

Virtual property viewings quickly replaced in-person tours, webinars stood in for cancelled conferences and workshop leaders have moved their yoga classes and garden design meetings online.

Perhaps for the first time, we’re truly embracing the power of technology. But this digital aptitude has been a matter of necessity, rather than a conscious effort to streamline our lives. It has been a symptom, not a cause.

And it seems to have a downside. According to Google Trends, the number of people googling “Zoom Fatigue” has increased tenfold since the beginning of April, and the search term “Zoom Fatigue is real” has received what Google calls a ‘breakout’ number of searches – a title reserved only for tremendous increases. Why are we so tired in lockdown?

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Are video conference calls exhausting?

At the very start of our working from home journey, it was the courteous thing to turn our cameras on during conference calls – we advocated it too. The habit is well-intentioned, it allows us to share smiles, make eye contact and see familiar faces for a sense of normality.

But video conference calls, in their entirety, can trigger a painful nostalgia for what our meetings used to be. For the first time, we are watching ourselves speak, frown and nod – forcing us to overly police our reactions. And of course, cue the ‘Is that really what I look like when I speak?’ woes.

We no longer know who is making eye contact with us – which means that our usual side glances or ‘We’ll go over that later’ looks disappear into a vacuum, making us feel more siloed than before.

Nor do we have the luxury of post-meeting chats to unwind while everyone shuffles out of the meeting room. Perhaps trivial at the time, these snippets of small talk used to remind us that while we have our designated roles and responsibilities, we have lives outside of them too.

If you’re more exhausted than normal, you’re not alone

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy explain that if you’re ending your working day more exhausted than usual, you’re not alone. Our current way of working – with its reliance on technology – is having a profound impact on our levels of focus.

“On a video call the only way to show we’re paying attention is to look at the camera,” they explain. “But, in real life, how often do you stand within three feet of a colleague and stare at their face? Probably never. This is because having to engage in a “constant gaze” makes us uncomfortable — and tired”.

Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at business school Insead, who explores sustainable learning and development in the workplace, seconds this. He says: “Our minds are together when our bodies feel we're not. That dissonance, which causes people to have conflicting feelings, is exhausting. You cannot relax into the conversation naturally”.

He continues: “Silence creates a natural rhythm in a real-life conversation. However, when it happens in a video call, you become anxious about the technology”.

Managing our home-environment

As Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy explain: “Adding fuel to the fire is many of our work-from-home situations”. Not only are we managing a new form of communication, we’re trying to maintain a professional working environment altogether.

While we’re on video calls, our flatmates are army crawling across our bedroom floors to borrow exercise equipment, our loved ones are waving their hands at us to figure out if we want another tea, and our kids, who have a much smaller grasp of what an important call is, just want to feel anything but bored.

We are now responsible for setting boundaries, coming up with new and polite ways of asking to be left alone and stressing the importance of peace and quiet. If technology isn’t tiring you out, the newly associated etiquette might be.

Our outside-of-work tech time

The way we interact with technology outside of work has also changed drastically. At the end of March, people took to Twitter to express their shock horror at their iPhone ‘screen time’ metrics rising by 200% since lockdown.

Music-streaming giant Spotify has also announced that tens of millions of users have changed their morning routines since lockdown.

According to Spotify listenership data, “every day now looks like the weekend”, we’re going to bed later and we’re consuming content that was characteristically only popular on the weekend, like podcasts.

Not only are our work lives now operating entirely online, but our social lives are too; it’s a joy to know that pockets of the UK have embraced neighbourhood WhatsApp groups and friendship groups are jumping on the virtual quiz bandwagon.

But pre-lockdown, many of us – particularly the more introverted – had developed a knack for coolly leaving social gatherings when we were ready to. Whether we had an excuse or not, we simply scuttled out because our social batteries were flagging.

But the problem is, virtual hangouts are indefinite. Not only do they seldom have an end time, but our polite white lies are far less believable now. There is no train to catch, there is no friend to meet and there is no gym class to make. We just want to leave the virtual hangout, and that’s a much more contentious topic to raise.

And in our moments of solitude, we’re trying to stay calm in an uncertain time. We default to eagerly scrolling through every news app to get our fix of information, find a speculative exit plan or consume the next update. Our minds are working overtime.

What’s the answer?

Feeling exhausted by this new way of working is a vicious cycle – we want to prove our productivity and show our engagement, but doing so runs the risk of depleting our mental resources, which means we’re less productive, more downbeat about our shortfalls, and then even less productive.

Amanda Lim, Head of Knight Frank’s Flexible Office Solutions explains: “We need technology – it’s an incredibly powerful tool. But we need to utilise it without burning out. Finding that middle ground is key”.

Small tricks like carving out an offline hour, ensuring you take regular breaks, getting plenty of exercise and adding audio-only phone calls to your communication mix can make a big difference in maintaining a sustainable level of focus. It’s also worth ensuring your social hangouts have an explicit end time – and are optional.

Be mindful of multi-tasking, too. Even if your colleagues veer off-topic on a call, don’t use the time to scroll on your phone or catch up on the news. As quoted in How to Combat Zoom Fatigue: “Because you have to turn certain parts of your brain off and on for different types of work, switching between tasks can cost you as much as 40% of your productive time”.

You might also choose to embrace the power of procrastination. As we’ve explored before, procrastination doesn’t necessarily damage your productivity – but the guilt and frustration you associate with it can. Sometimes, it can be a really positive way to let your mind get out its distractions so that you can come full circle, back to focus.

But first and foremost, if you’re downbeat about your productivity or motivation levels, it’s important to remember that you’re not just working from home, you’re trying to work in a global pandemic.