Zoom Fatigue is Real and Harder on Women
No Kidding: Being on camera is exhausting
No, we don’t need researchers to tell us that looking at ourselves on screen all day is demoralizing and exhausting. However, some of the details have been documented, and validate our experiences. In You’re not imagining it: Being on camera for hours a day takes a toll, former Stanford University researcher Géraldine Fauville (now in Stockholm) shares her survey of over 10,500 Zoom users. Overall, women scored 14 percent higher on Zoom fatigue than their male counterparts.
“Mirror Fatigue” was one of the biggest differences between men and women. Don’t we know it? This year has been the multiple traumas of endless hours of looking at ourselves as we experienced general tiredness, increasingly out of control hair, depression and loneliness. The initial Zoom mirror intensity never seemed to get any easier.
Interestingly, women tend to have longer meetings. The researchers didn’t go into detail about why, though I suspect women need more soft skill time to connect and collaborate. However, longer meetings mean less time between sessions for those who work online.
Feeling trapped, unable to leave the screen, was another source of stress. As was the stress of looking at big boxes of faces and the absolute inability to read full body and subtle facial cues. The cue part wasn’t reported as being especially tiring for women, but I know it gets to me.
The researchers suggest several remedies:
Shorter meetings
Smaller Zoom windows in general
Use the “Hide” feature so you don’t have to look at yourself
Put more space between you and the camera, so you have more literal wiggle room
Most Awareness through Movement teachers I know plan to continue teaching via Zoom. I will. I’m not sure it’s worth even trying to develop a local practice, but that’s another story.
At least we know these ‘exhaustion' factors’ need not apply to Feldenkrais students. There is no need to be looking at the camera or the screen during a lesson. You are moving! You get to do the lesson from the comfort of your own home - usually a benefit.
I am eternally grateful to Zoom, even after - exactly a year ago - my account was cancelled and it took 6 weeks to figure out why. Just this past month, i ran into a problem scheduling meetings; this time support contacted me within 24 hours. We didn’t solve the problem but the workaround is good enough.
However, I will do my best to really keep lessons to 45 minute sessions. And recordings will be audio only just to push home the point.
And I will continue to offer “Distracted Zoomer” hints in my weekly letter. These are small, nearly imperceptible movements you can do while sitting in front of the camera; you might actually improve your movements while trapped online.