lifehacker.com: Throughout the pandemic, many former office workers have been necessarily glued to their computer monitors. As work migrated online, video tools like Zoom and Google Hangouts have become the rare outlet for regular face-time with colleagues. But short of an alternative for seeing your co-workers without a screen in the way, all this videoconferencing has led to an epidemic of “Zoom fatigue.”
17 comments:
Over the past few months, I have been getting more and more used to the Zoom and virtual learning style. There are pros and cons to everything but I continue to try and make the best of the situation. I have a standing desk now and try to take most if not all my classes standing up. This also keeps me from fidgeting around and feeling like I need to move around throughout a class. The virtual setting can be hard to navigate and constantly be present and active in class. When we first started zoom I was very worried and nervous about how I appeared on camera. Now I don’t care as much. I have gotten more comfortable will having my camera on and turning on the speak view, if someone sees me do something weird on zoom it's not like I wouldn’t have done it in person (maybe just wouldn’t be as aware of it) I think that we were all forced to become hyper-aware of ourselves during this pandemic and that has been hard and stress-inducing. Like most things, it gets easier with time, but it still takes a lot of effort to navigate online learning and what is expected from the others on the call. Maybe just stop caring what other people think and have an objective for the meeting like learning what is being addressed rather than give a crap if your hair looks ok (easier said than done I know) It’s a struggle and the stress of it all comes and goes in waves
These suggestions definitely were not tailored for students who are doing virtual learning. The whole eye contact thing was not relatable at all. That is probably an older generation thing because my generation knows you can’t make eye contact through a screen and as long as you aren’t constantly looking in the corner at yourself, they know you are paying attention to you.
In my experience things that help with zoom fatigue include:
1) turning off your camera to get up/stretch when you need it. Especially when it’s a long class and the teachers don’t give you a break
2) take notes or read course materials during class to help you pay attention/stay on topic
3) give yourself breaks from electronics in between classes. I try to get up and tidy my house or go outside for a few minutes.
4) every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to help with eye strain
5) eating, doodling and knitting helps me to pay attention to long lectures and not get bored.
Remote learning is really hard for me because It’s hard to pay attention. Learning software like AudoCAD over zoom has been the worst and I don’t know why I can’t comprehend what’s being taught but I have to be patient with myself.
This article, as Rhiannon said above is most definitely not aimed at students but probably more working adults such as my mom who now has a few meetings a day on Zoom. The stuff that was said about eye contact was strange as you really can't/ don't make eye contact on a computer. The other suggestions also do not work well with the school format. It suggests walking around while on Zoom calls, however, one cannot do this while taking notes. It also recommends turning of one's camera but in most classes having your camera on is required and can even impact participation. I find online classes very difficult and exhausting. My attention span has just gotten shorter and shorter it seems. It is really difficult to comprehend new topics especially since it is harder to discuss with classmates and teachers in a more informal setting. I don't think Zoom is an easy time for anyone.
Being hyper aware of my appearance is something that I didn't quite expect to be a side effect of online school. Of course, there's always the option of having your camera off, but that feels disingenuous a lot of the time, especially in small classes. It's a weird mix of feeling like you can dress as casually as you like, but you are still hyper aware of how you present yourself on screen. I end up watching myself a lot of the time, and that just feels weird, but it's hard not to. Like passing glass windows on the street and you can't help but glance at yourself every time. The 'eye contact' on zoom is also exhausting, and I don't know where I got the expectation that I need to be physically engaged in everything. I can be a fidgety person, and when I crochet or stitch I end up looking down a lot, which could send the message that I'm not listening even though I am paying attention.
This article definitely sounds as though it is geared towards the corporate or professional workday. While some parts of the article do pertain to our lives as students, it's a little different to me. Especially for drama classes, having cameras on is the norm (which is good, to see actual people) but it definitely gets tiring after a while. I spend, on average, more than 20 hours on zoom for classes per week. Then add at least 3 hours of homework per day (but let's be honest that's pretty light for homework time), plus any zooms, facetime calls, or discord video chats I may hop on to talk to friends. That is a lot of screen time for one day, and over the whole week! Making sure I get up to stretch, change location to have somewhere else in my apartment to sit, and looking away from the screen are all things I do when working on homework, but during class I need to be attentive and take notes (so, walking around is usually not an option for me). Zoom is tiring, there is no question about it; this article could spark some helpful ideas, but was not the most useful for me.
Zoom Fatigue is so real. Every day seems to blend into the next full of meetings for each class. So much so that by the time the weekend rolls around, I’m so exhausted from staring at a computer screen every single day. But even then, it’s like we don’t get a break as once we finish with hours of zoom classes and meetings, we have to continue working on assignments while continuing to stare at our computers for even more hours in the day. I feel like ever since people have had to do their work virtually, our quality of life has gone down a bit. That may sound a bit dark and depressing, but it’s true. Sitting in front of my computer with a massive headache caused by staring at the screen all day is a way worse way to live than being able to interact with people in real life and walk around the workplace or school campus and really be able to do the hands-on work that we all love to do as theatre people. Long story short, I hate zoom and I can’t wait until I get to be with other people in a classroom again.
Like many people said above, this article is clearly aimed at an audience that isn't us. Almost all of their solutions to the "difficulties of zoom" were things that I can't do. Of my 8 classes, only one of them allows you to choose whether you have your video on. For the others, it is a graded participation requirement or at least frowned upon to not. I won't disagree though that physical and mental fatigue are things I deal with. On my 2 heaviest days a week, I spend almost 12 hours on zoom between class, meetings, and rehearsal. After and between those things I do homework...also on my computer. The amount of sitting and screentime I've had in the last year is startling and unhealthy but the suggestions offered here would do nothing to solve these issues. The best way to really combat these things is at a university level not the personal. Having more lenient policies on attendance and utilizing asynchronous learning would be helpful. Giving extensions and compassion more freely and even assigning homework that is specifically not digital would all be welcome changes. Rather than offering students tips on how to cope and survive in this new virtual landscape maybe we should be carving out paths and leveling the terrain.
Yeah, yeah… I’ve heard it before again and again, Zoom fatigue is rough and here is a list of things to combat that. While all this advice isn’t as useless as other articles, what scares me most is going back to normal again. Once everybody gets used to Zoom and Zoom learning (I would argue that I’ve already got a system going) going back to a classroom is going to be so jarring for me. On bad days, I simply turn my camera off. I only have to get 50% ready for some classes because all the class is going to see is my torso. What am I going to do when I have to go back to class in person! I’m sort of mortified at the thought. But no mind! For now, I will channel my energy into taking some of the advice from this article, not staying in fullscreen, turning my camera off sometimes, staying mobile as much as I can… Might as well dig the hole deeper while I still got the shovel!
The author describes zoom fatigue as more than just being tired at the end of the day from looking at zoom, but making life overall seem less interesting and monotonous. The research laid out four problems that lead to zoom fatigue and then had four suggestions which I realized I have started doing all four of inadvertently. The reason for that is just that I think I’ve anecdotally figured some of these things out on my own. The sedentary thing seems to be the worst of it all and fortunately with this semester bringing some classes back in person, many of us finally have a reason to get out of bed in the morning as opposed to just rolling over and hitting the “join zoom” button. The article also talked about how the “zoom fatigue” refers to increased social pressure from having to maintain relationships over the internet which is incredibly difficult and emotionally draining and that is something I hadn’t considered.
As has been said by my classmates before, this is definitely an article more geared towards working adults and the corporate world than it is for students who are getting an education through Zoom. In response to the solutions to combat Zoom fatigue in the article: I'm not too concerned about eye contact since it's never really going to match up with the placement of the monitor vs. the camera. I am definitely constantly fussing over my appearance in my own little Zoom window, but I often feel pressured to keep my camera on, especially in classes with smaller sizes when the instructor isn't sharing screen so everyone's window is on full display. While I desperately wish I weren't so terribly glued to my computer all the time, being in Zoom school makes that really hard. I'm fairly used to Zoom school now but I'm really more scared about what I'll be like once the pandemic is over and I actually have to haul ass to school every day.
Although I did not really expect this article to be very helpful or give some actually practical tips, I do appreciate how they included the problem of sedentary lifestyles. Having to seat in the same position for almost 12 hours to take classes, and possibly staying in that position for even longer hours to finish the assignments is truly painful. But it is not only detrimental to the mentality, but also to the physical health. There were a few days that I did not even went out from my room because I did not have to, and having had this kind of life style for almost a year, I am afraid that I would feel “awkward” living with the “normal” schedule in the future. Some of my peers have already mentioned that many parts of this article do not really apply to our (students’) lives, but I guess at least Zoom Fatigue is one commonality that could bond every generation in this world because quite literally everyone has to go through the same process in this world of pandemic.
Like many other people said, this does not really apply to students experiencing college online. It was a little frustrating because I know that some of these tips can actually help zoom fatigue like not being afraid to turn off your camera and do something else while listening to class. I find walking, eating, or doing a craft that doesn’t take much thought really helpful to actually staying focused on what is being said, instead of being chained to my computer all day. Although, a lot of the classes I take specifically state in the syllabus that you must have your camera on in order to get points for participation. I understand that it is difficult for a teacher to have to talk to an empty void, but beginning perfectly present on zoom starting from 8am and ending at 7:00pm seems impossible. Personally, I leave my camera on as much as I can, but I won’t beat myself up if I need a break.
This article was meh, I mean I don't really think anyone could do anything to cure zoom fatigue. Although the suggestion to not use full screen might be interesting to try.I think what i hate about zoom the most is the mechanics. Like when you accidentally start speaking with someone at the same time. Also its really had to read social cues in this setting and for someone who may be more introverted it may be hard to speak in the whole class of people on screens staring at you. I think the classes in which I feel the most bored are the ones where we do the exact same thing in the class everyday. I get that some classes don't really have an option but I find much more enjoyment in the classes when we go out into breakout rooms, or have a more open discussion with students.- Evan Riley
These articles have just been getting more and more funny to me because I truly don't think anyone that writes them is truly on zoom for all hours of the day. It truly so hard to pay attention to a class once you have gotten to the end of your day and have been on zoom for the past 8 hours. I can't say that I always pay attention between sometimes I will make lunch during my zoom calls or clean my room while listening to what the professor is saying because at that point of the day I just need to get my body moving. The thing I have found to help me the most when it comes to my classes is to have some food in front of me and to be eating while listening to my lectures or participating in discussions. This does mean I don't take notes during my lectures but I find that so frustrating to do in the zoom format because I lose focus the moment I miss just one sentence in my notes. I find it a lot better for me to keep my camera on, keep munching on something, and show my professors that I truly am paying attention, I will just rewatch the lecture later in order to take proper notes.
The hilarious thing about zoom fatigue, is that we see so many seminars and sessions offering advice on how to avoid it through CMU’s resources, but they’re all over zoom! And whenever my friends want to hangout, they want to do a zoom session. It’s almost like I can’t escape it. As far as the tips to avoid fatigue go, the freshmen DPs really try to keep our video on for all of our classes, because it makes it feel more like a class and it eases our professor’s minds. It’s hard for them to teach to a bunch of black screens, and they can’t tell if we’re paying attention. I need to keep my zoom in full screen because I often need to see whatever the professor is sharing. Now that the vaccine is being distributed at a great rate, I think the only thing we can do right now is wait until we can go back to being in-person.
I never would have thought a year ago that one of the biggest issues in my academic and personal life would be zoom fatigue. I think one of my classmates said this week that we spend close to 35 hours a week on zoom calls. Now that is close to a 40- hour work week, but the difference between actual working for 40 hours is that you get to move during your work day. We spend 35 hours in front of zoom calls whilst not moving at all and leading us to an unhealthy sedentary lifestyle. I feel that there a-lot of the solutions presented in the article really wont do much in terms of getting rid of zoom fatigue. We just have to wait until all of this bullshit is over and we can have school and work in an in person setting. The thing in the article that made me chuckle is the fact that Zoom in tight because its called "zoom fatigue" but its really videoconferencing fatigue
THIS> ARTICLE> WAS> NOT> HELPFUL>. Literally the title and hook is called HOW to overcome "zoom fatigue", yet all it did was talk about why people get zoom fatigue, and give 4 bulleted unhelpful suggestions at the very end of their article. The how part in this article wasn't even tested or proven. The article just,, listed the issues of zoom fatigue and then was like, well if you do this it kinda changes up the issue? Like looking at yourself in zoom is tiring so turn your camera off?? no duh. What about the students who need to keep their cameras on? In the school of drama, living in California last semester I would sometimes have classes from 5am to 7pm. And thanks for letting me know that extended screen time causes depression. That really makes it so much better. If I go and listen to a lecture away from my computer, I AM NOT GONNA LISTEN TO MY LECTURE. If I make my video call smaller so my "colleagues" are less "intimidating" and it will induce less "anxiety"(???????) I WONT BE ABLE TO SEE THE LECTURE SCREEN. WHAT DOES THIS ARTICLE THINK WE DO ON ZOOM??? LISTEN TO A PODCAST? This article was not considerate to the circumstances of people who are struggling with zoom fatigue, and it was in fact insulting that they gave such half-butted responses. Literally clickbait. Not trusting this "life-hacker" page again.
Post a Comment