Most of us know that fatigue means extreme tiredness, which is often caused by physical exertion, mental overwork, or illness. Zoom fatigue, on another note, is the same kind of tiredness that people feel due to extended participation in teleconferencing sessions, virtual meetings, and video calls. While we often think that video calling services are enjoyable and innovative ways of connecting us with other people, it can take its toll on the mind and makes one feel burnt out or even bored if used improperly.
Join in as we explore ways on how to dispel Zoom fatigue and boredom.
Inject Humor into Your Virtual Meetings
Talking about something funny provides unexpected yet much-needed diversion in virtual meetings and video calls. It breaks the monotonous pace of the conversation or the tense or serious atmosphere in the meeting environment. While not all have the gift of humor, much less having what it takes to be a stand-up comedian, you could always hire a comedian at cleancomedians.com to deliver the punchline for your videoconferencing events or virtual meetings. You’ll thank yourself for making that choice, and the meeting members will applaud and commend your efforts. What makes this group of entertainers fit for any type of meeting is the comedy they bring is wholesome, smart, and entertaining to bring different types of audiences together and build up their enthusiasm and engagement in the virtual meeting.
Designate or Create Breaks in Your Meetings
Too much facetime during meetings, especially long ones, can create discomfort for most videoconferencing members. Don’t be afraid to ask permission to go out of the screen a bit and take a quick break for your eyes, mind, and body. Take your eyes off the screen and look at near and distant objects as far as 20 feet away. If your eyes feel a bit tired or strained, close them for 20 seconds while applying gentle circular massages over your eyelids. Take time to also stand up, stretch, and move around a bit to ease tension from your muscles and to give your mind a much-needed distraction and relief from the pressures of the virtual meeting environment. If you feel the need for another quick break, you can minimize the conference window or simply look away from the computer screen for a few seconds to a change of view.
Minimize Image Processing Overload
When you become quite used to the Zoom meeting format, you’ll yourself staring at your face most of the time. While some people think of this feature is akin to looking at yourself in the mirror, not all are comfortable looking at themselves during a videoconference setup. While Zoom and other video call apps have features for hiding yourself from view to solve this problem, some other stimuli and distractions can push your mind to its processing limits if these stimuli are not avoided. Remember that you are also seeing the faces of other videoconferencing participants, including what’s on their backgrounds as well. This can sometimes give you the feeling of being in different rooms at once, especially if you see eye-catching details like pets, furniture, plants, and movements in their backgrounds.
This can sometimes push your brain into overdrive as it tries to process all the perceived visual environment cues at the same time. This can cause mental fatigue. A way to minimize this is to have members place themselves in front of a monochrome wall or to have inactive or idle members turn off their video.
Zoom and other apps that allow you to have video calls help get real-time or near-real-time with other people, especially from remote locations. It has become a common tool for presentations and meetings that need to be done without having the members physically meet in one place. With these conveniences also come distractions, stressors can cause fatigue associated with virtual meetings, but there are also several ways that we can beat Zoom fatigue and boredom. Video Conferences should be interesting, engaging, and stimulating and should not be visually straining and mentally taxing.
