How often do you find yourself completely drained after a Zoom meeting? If this is happening to you quite often then consider yourself part of the gang. A lot of people these days are surviving with Zoom fatigue, this can also be called virtual fatigue.
This particular state refers to the exhaustion people feel after any kind of video conference or video call.
While it is not a formal diagnosis, Zoom fatigue has become real. Kyrstal Jagoo, a Master’s in Social Work and mental health therapist, thinks that the Zoom fatigue feels similar to what burnout and exhaustion manifest.
The Exhausting Digital World
The digital realm has been around for a while now. But the pandemic has given a whole new meaning to this phrase. While there are definite benefits of being connected to the tech and digital world, due to the coronavirus outbreak, its darker side heavily affected us.
Before the outbreak, people were habitual of staying connected with their friends, family, and colleagues over digital means but after work from home, public restrictions, and the fear of being infected through in-person interaction, they became a lifestyle.
So with the benefits are costs. Here is a look at how Zoom fatigue looks like:
For people working in a service-based career, work-based burnout is nothing new. However, the visual work lifestyle has generated a new meaning of work burn that has severely affected the mental and physical health of employees.
Yet, many of us are continuing to work from home in the same condition as if nothing has happened. The traditional exhaustion in the previous days included feeling apathetic, reducing work performance, and general exhaustion.
But the key signs of pandemic-induced burnout are different.
Following are the things that come in this:
- Difficulty concentrating.
- Difficulty in managing relationships with loved ones.
- Frustration and irritability throughout the day.
- Muscle tension, fatigue, insomnia are some of the physical symptoms.
Zoom fatigue can get even more stressful when it is topped with having slow internet service at home and inadequate home office supplies.
While one of the responsibilities of the organization is to provide the essentials to employees working remotely, having high-speed internet service at your home on your own is not that difficult. Hughes Internet, for instance, offers the best Hughesnet Packages for households across America.
Once you have high-speed internet service at home you might feel at ease at attending video calls and working quickly and effectively.
How to Deal With Zoom Fatigue
For better or worse, this current work-life routine is not going anywhere. However, there are a few options you can take back some of the control of your life and reduce the on-going fatigue.
Feel OK to Tap Out
There will always be meeting that you can not get out of, however, there is are going to be some that are easy to escape. The key is to find out which ones are worth attending and which are meant to tap out from.
Other than this you do not necessarily have to be on a video call at all times. Some days you can excuse the attendees and connect your audio which is far easier to control than video conference.
Get Proper Eyewear
Proper eyewear is essential for those working from home. Staring at a computer screen all day is not only exhausting for your body, it can also wear down your eyes. Instead of suffering through this fatigue, get proper eyewear that allows you to concentrate without pain. An optometrist can provide Calgary eyeglasses for you if you think you need a stronger prescription to get through the day headache free.
Schedule Zoom Meetings When Necessary
One hard part about Zoom meetings is the unnecessary expectations of being professional.
While working from home there will be numerous times you feel zero need for connecting with the team members on Zoom. However, the company protocol might force you into scheduling them all the time.
The easier way to reduce this pressure is by taking control of the scheduling. Make sure you only schedule meetings when it is extremely necessary.
Do Fun Things
Zoom isn’t only about creating mental pressure on employees, instead, it can be used for fun things as well. For instance, Zoom has a lot of fun features such as playing a game together or watching a show together, or more.
This might help the application quell the negative associations users sometimes feel toward the app.
Zoom for the Betterment
There are a lot of ways through which you can reduce the on-going stress around keeping yourself connected with Zoom.
