If you’re finding yourself more drained at the end of the workday than before, it’s not just you. “Zoom fatigue” is a sweeping phenomena that has dominated social media and Google searches since last March. It’s an interesting conversation since long daily commutes have been removed and more hours are being spent at home.
So, why has virtual work become so daunting? There are a few reasons.
According to the Psychiatric Times, video calls are more tiring because it forces us to focus more intently on conversations in order to understand and retain information. For example, if you’re in a regular office setting and miss something in a meeting, you can rely on context clues from side exchanges to bring you up to speed.
During a video call, however, it’s impossible to do this unless you use the private chat feature or awkwardly try to find a moment to unmute and ask a colleague to repeat themselves. It’s even more distressing if you or your team’s WIFI connection is lagging behind.
So, if working from home is unavoidable for you right now and it’s getting you down, here are a few tips that can help.
Don’t do more than one task at a time
It’s easy to assume that you can get more work done since you have more time, but research shows that trying to do multiple things at once cuts into performance. Because you have to turn certain parts of your brain off and on for different types of work, switching between tasks can cost you as much as 40 percent of your productive time.
Researchers at Stanford found that people who multitask can’t remember things as well as their more singularly focused peers. The next time you’re on a short Zoom call, exit out of any instant messenger tabs, leave your phone in the other room and really tune in.
It’s hard, but remember that that Slack message can wait until after you’ve finished your meeting.