People are tired of ZOOMing all day

June 10, 2020, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Just a few months ago not many people were working at home full time and even fewer were using videoconferencing software for hours a day. That’s changed. Zoom has become part of the lexicon for home based employees, and for many of them it’s becoming too much.

Zoom fatigue is a real thing. The constant video chat meetings are draining to people and stressful. People are complaining of sore eyes, mental fatigue and general tiredness. The condition is common for many using Zoom, Skype, Micorsoft Teams, Cisco Webex, Google  Meet etc.

For many, the stress begins with where to set up in the house that has consistently good signal and is relatively quiet and uncluttered. For the first time in our lives we are essentially inviting people into our homes that we work with and appearances can matter a lot. Personal appearance is an issue as well for may people who haven’t had a haircut in months and are accustomed to looking well groomed at meetings and work.

Then there is the emotional stress. For a lot of people appearing on screen all day is almost like a performance. Watching your own live image non stop along with that of others can be very difficult. Psychologists suggest turning that feature off if it distracts or bothers you, or makes you self conscious.

Feeling like you belong on the Brady Bunch or Hollywood Squares shows is an issue. In real life we don’t see a bunch of faces staring at us head on. We aren’t aware of everyone’s fidgets and facial movements. Sighs, eyerolling or yawning become all that more accentuated. The interaction is not like face to face human interactions where we make eye contact with a few people while speaking at a meeting, and accept that those looking down, or stretching or yawning aren’t necessarily bored with us, but may simply be tired or taking notes.

Experts recommend that if you are feeling overwhelmed with the non stop meetings you block out ‘screen free time’ in your evenings or day. Do physical activity to disconnect. Lie down for a few minutes if you are tired. Try switching some video calls to phone calls instead. Not every interaction would be face to face in a normal office, so why should they be in a virtual one?

Many of us are looking at a lot of holiday time this year and with not many options for travel. If you are feeling particularly stressed consider taking a few days onto your weekends and use the time to stay away from screens and calls and to focus on relaxing.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.