www.fastcompany.com: Everyone keeps telling me to go outside! Take a walk! Get some fresh air! But here’s the thing: I like being inside. I like sitting. I’m perfectly happy opening a window for my daily dose of fresh air. Leaving the house (!) for a walk is not the kind of break I want. If I’m going to take a midday break, it’ll be to watch reruns of The Office or do a crossword puzzle.
14 comments:
I guess I like the core of what this article is getting to, but I really feel like this is not a practical outlet for many people. I do not think I would be able to justify doing this for a class for example. I need to be taking notes and actually looking at what is on my screen or I would be totally lost most of the time. The part about people’s videos being distracting is interesting, because I really do not feel like this is the case with most zoom calls. Obviously if there is a lot of action going on in someone’s background or they have a pet it can be distracting, but I think that is on them, not the other people in the meeting. In fact, I would say that the people who are not on their video during calls are more distracting in general and lead to a much more awkward meeting for everyone involved. No one likes talking to a blank screen or people’s profile picture after all.
The article talks about a very real thing: zoom fatigue. Sitting in front of your laptop or monitor and listening to people speak is a tough job given the settings that zoom can be utilized from. Since zoom meetings can be attended from the comfort of one’s bed, which I have definitely done a hundred times now, it is very capable of hampering with one’s level of productivity, of which I am a victim too.
But the ways that the article suggests dealing with this fatigue is not something I agree with because I feel like they somehow will contribute to less productivity, given how they promote engaging with other things in order to keep one’s stride up. Walking while on a meeting is an absolute no for me because I know that the moment I step out of my house, I am going to stop concentrating on the meeting and basically spend my time looking at everything but my phone screen. Not to mention that attending om meetings through one’s phone also does not seem like the best idea, given how easily phones can distract people.
I really agree with Cooper here, that while this article is talking about something that I definitely think will be beneficial to some people, it just simply isn’t practical for most people. Being in school, my zoom fatigue some from classes not meetings, and I can’t do my classes on a walk because I have to take notes during class. And at least I personally think one of the best features of meetings over zoom is that you are able to look at everyone’s face, which this article says you can’t do while calling into a meeting on zoom, and even if you did do a video while walking that would just be so uncomfortable having to hold your phone up like that the whole time. I am glad that taking walks during this person’s zoom meetings has been helping them, but I never see that being a useful method for me or for so many other people who’s meetings aren’t just listing to other people talk.
My mom often does this during meetings. However, while it may work for someone in marketing like my mom who just has to check in on a few quick things with some people this is not a good solution for a college student majoring in theater. During classes, I have to take notes or work on projects. My teachers and classmates have to be able to see my face and my work. While this may work for a standard nine to five office job on zoom it does not work in the education setting. I very much agree with the comments above it isn't practical at all. Also as I can have up to six or seven classes a day some of which are two hours long it doesn't really make sense either that I would be going on that many walks a day. I think that taking breaks between classes etc is a much more productive way to spend my time.
I really love this "hack" of getting rid of Zoom fatigue, but having a class or meeting on the go doesn't seem that appealing or stress-free to me. Personally, I enjoy going for a walk or spending sometime outside directly before or after a meeting or class. Whenever I spend sometime outside before a class I am able to focus on the class so much more than if I were only scrolling on my computer before. What I found helped me to focus the most during class and beat Zoom fatigue last semester was doing yoga or Zumba before a class, and often times doing these outside. To have a great release of endorphins right before class gives you an amazing energy boost that will keep you sharp for the entire time period. Walking after a class really helps me digest what I just learned from the Zoom call, and allows me to relax after staring at a screen for so long. I am so happy that having class and meetings on the go work for some, but I personally like sitting in front of my screen for a meeting to see and hear everyone clearly. Sitting for a meeting is also great if you need to take notes, which of course is super important for classes as well.
I’m about two paragraphs into this and I already know the article that follows is going to tell me things that are not practical for a student. We are required to be online all day. We have to retain this information somehow, and we can’t just ‘go take a walk’ during class if we need to be taking notes or engaging with the class. Frankly, most of my professors would probably not be pleased if I was walking around during their class. Most of mine already get upset when I can’t turn on my camera because my wifi can’t sustain a video connection. I really don’t think that dialing in from my phone is going to relieve any of my screen-related migraines, and it will probably just increase my stress. It’s a no from me. This article fails to realize that the people using Zoom the most are students, and this just is not a viable solution.
This is an interesting idea, but like the other comments expressed, this just isn't practical for our classes. A lot of times in class we need to take notes, work on assignments, or present projects, which can't be done while out on a walk. Especially for performance majors, there is little that they can do while just walking around. Our teachers generally are not very allowing of being out and about during zoom classes either. Many prefer that we keep cameras on, so calling in is not an option, and others want us to just be sitting still at a desk, so clearly taking a walk isn't encouraged. Zoom fatigue is very real though, and I do think it's important that everyone finds their own way to rest. For me, talking to people is helpful, and my roommate and I like to watch shows and movies every night, which always makes me feel better if I've had a busy day. Walking may work for some people, but I just don't have the time or stamina.
This might be worth trying. I’m definitely not the type of person to take a walk as a break, (despite my roommates saying it’s life-changing, I like to be inside), but maybe walking while on Zoom could be worth trying… for certain classes. A lot of the classes I have require me to be on my computer to see what the lecturer is saying or to do some interactive activities, but on the occasional standard lecture, a walk and talk might be an interesting change of pace.
My main concern with this (for me) is that my vision is pretty horrible and I don’t like wearing my glasses, especially with a mask on. And when I’m out walking, looking at trees gives me a headache because my brain can’t process the details. (I think? It hurts my head regardless to look at anything.) And I like having a direction, so walking aimlessly feels a bit off putting for me.
I’m really tired of reading articles about “hacking” or “handling” zoom fatigue. These are impossible times, what if we all just took a fucking break for a second. I’m not saying we stop doing our jobs or going to school, but, if we just took a moment to reevaluate our expectations. I am going to let go of the whole employment side of this for a moment and just focus on school. Students and teachers are sitting in one chair in front of one screen participating in classes, prep periods, and homework right now. Despite the fact that a solid percentage of what we would be doing if we were in a classroom simply is not possible from this position, we haven’t spent a second reevaluating our expectations. Class times have not decreased or become asynchronous, regardless of what time zone we are in. We are expected to collaborate on projects, participate in meetings and classes, and carry out assignments, despite the fact that we can’t even be in the same room. No reasonable student or teacher can handle those expectations with these new parameters and still perform to their pre-COVID standards. Enough “hacking zoom fatigue” and more evaluating expectations please.
I have absolutely no desire to do this. I’ve been on phone calls while walking home and between the sounds of car and the wind, the audio quality for the other people is going to be significantly worse. Additionally, for classes I want to be at my desk so I can take notes and have a calculator or textbook handy. I get that this is geared towards working adults, but even so what meetings are you having where you don’t need to quickly reference an email to answer a question, share a file that someone is asking for, or just take minutes so that you can quickly skim those instead of having to rewatch the entire meeting. I think the problem with this idea is that any meeting where this could work could have just been an email, and that truly should be the moral of the pandemic. This could have been an email.
Wow this is such a hot take. The last time I went to class on my phone, I stopped paying attention and the instructor removed me from the meeting- whoops. I think this idea isn't for everyone, but I see what they're trying to get at, being active is necessary in your day to day. This doesn't have to mean going on a run, taking walks in the cold, or trying to overly multitask throughout your day. For me, I like stopping my day and listening to a podcast, scrolling through tik tok, and eating. In terms of classes, the best way to avoid zoom fatigue is to keep zoom meetings to a minimum, and instead of zooming for every last thing- try a phone call a quick short facetime. I think that there isn't one "hack" to zoom fatigue, those bluelight don't even work, the best way to prevent burnout is by properly taking breaks and doing literally anything else but zoom and maybe a computer screen- not by trying to combine the two.
I am honestly kind of disappointed in myself that I did not come up with this solution myself, since I do tend to come up with odd solutions to the events that happen in life. This is kind of genius. It dos make me really sad that it is not possible in an academic setting. Sure if I were on campus maybe I could take a class from outside but alas, I am not. I can see this working wonders for regular meetings however. I do not have very many but getting just the right amount of crisp air getting in and out of your lungs is so nice. This will also not work very well if the meeting is for something important – you would probably want to take notes and have a stable connection to pull it off, plus obviously enough of your attention so you can retain what is being talked about.
The Zoom fatigue is very very real and it is really starting to set in this fall even worse than it did in the spring. As someone who was constantly on the move before the pandemic and had trouble sitting in classroom sitting at a desk and having zoom calls go by all day is not working well for me. Walking and talking is something that I have thought about but as Cooper said I don’t think it’s necessarily something everyone can do. School and class is one situation where I don’t think it can work, taking notes and being fully invested is really helpful with informative class work. As I said I’m an antsy person and I think if it’s something where I need to be paying full attention to understand the content then I need to give it all of my time and energy. That’s part of why its so draining and its simply not making school any easier this fall.
Zoom fatigue is a very real thing that all of us struggle with, and it’s the worst on Tuesdays and Thursdays for me. Sitting at the desk all day staring at a computer starts giving me headaches, which is why I often turn my camera off and try to not look at the screen while just listening to the class if possible. I think this article brings up an interesting solution to this problem. I’ve done it once or twice during a class where not much was going on or we were just watching a movie, and it does help with not getting too exhausted. However I think for students in general it’s not as good of an outlet. Often we need to take notes in classes or use other computer software during the class or are occasionally required to have our videos on. In these cases we’re not able to get away from our desks and walk around like we could if it was just a normal meeting. Also due to my workload, I tend to need to work on some assignments during classes so I can get some sleep at night. The best solution for me tends to be just doing some stretches and walking around my apartment or maybe even napping in between my classes to try at reset myself.
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