Preventing virtual burnout

By Carlo Atienza, Businessmirror, 17 Feb 2021

I NOW find myself hopping from one meeting to the next. Since I started alternately working from home and at the office, there are times when I look at my calendar and cringe at the long hours of virtual meetings and talking to disrupted metallic voices and distorted video feeds. As much as technology has made work easier for everyone, it has also intruded on personal space and time. Not that I am complaining, but there are days when I have to drag myself in front of my laptop to join a web meeting. I thought I was alone until I read about Zoom fatigue.

According to Caroline Reinach Wolf in her article published in Psychology Today, titled “Virtual Platforms are Helpful Tools But Can Add to Our Stress,” there is such a thing as Zoom fatigue. She says it is “the tiredness, anxiety, or worry resulting from overusing these virtual platforms.” Of course, this is not limited to just one virtual meeting platform but extends to every possible virtual meeting application and the accompanying exhaustion from staring at a screen for long periods of time.

The reason why we get tired from repeated virtual meetings is the absence of nonverbal cues to help us decipher what is said, or, conversely, how we are understood. Add to this is the silence when you are speaking which can seem like talking to a wall. I know of one person who kept on talking and we could not hear her, so we had to boot her out of the call just to get her attention. These technical disruptions and communication delays can add to the frustration of conversing clearly to a faceless group.

Our attention span is also limited and can get easily distracted by things around us, especially when you do not have your own quiet and personal space at home to do your work. If we are not distracted by our environment, we also are strained psychologically by appearing at our best all the time especially when the meeting is being recorded. And as if we are not stretched enough, we do work on the side and we all have the tendency to chat, reply, or altogether do something else while in a meeting which can leave us feeling drained.

And then there are the e-mails that come in well after our working hours. The availability of communication tools in our mobile devices adds to the strain and keeps us reachable at a moment’s notice, further blurring the lines between work and personal life.

How then do we cope with the cyber-burnout we experience from excessive virtual meetings and video conferencing?

This may not be avoidable but do not accept video calls which are not valuable to your time. If the requester does not include an agenda, politely ask why the meeting was set. This way you can gauge if you can excuse yourself from the meeting, or even if you need to prepare something in advance. An agenda is a good way for you also to understand if your presence is needed, or if you can send someone as a representative.

During the meeting, try to focus on what is being discussed. Sure, the meeting might be recorded, and you can later review it but being present during the meeting will save you time. Know how to take down notes and use key words to remind you of the context of the discussion. If you can mute notifications from other applications, do so.

While in the meeting, choose a view layout in your video call that lets you focus on just one thing at a time—either the speaker or the presentation. Doing so will help reduce distractions on screen and help you focus on what the speaker is talking about. A gallery view will make you feel cramped because you will tend to look at all the participants and their backgrounds and soon enough, you will find yourself not listening to the speaker at all. Make it a point to focus on just one screen at a time.

If you can, allow participants to turn off their video so people can focus on the discussion. Have you ever noticed that when you are given a group picture, you always look for yourself first? And notice also that you are more interested in the pictures where you are present? Same thing goes for web calls. You will spend most of your time looking at yourself or your own video or profile picture. Now I understand why my company prevents us from changing our display profile picture. If you can, turn off your video—this not only helps you focus more on the discussion, it can also save bandwidth.

It also goes without saying to remember to rest your eyes occasionally. A helpful tip is to set a time to look away and stare at something far. This will help your eyes relax and give you a needed break from screen time. You might also want to stand up and stretch your arms and legs to increase your circulation and prevent stiffness from being in the same position for a long time. If it does not need to be a video meeting, try to call or just e-mail. There are meetings which could be just an email or a quick phone call. If a web call is really needed, shorten it as much as possible. This will ensure everybody has enough time to get to their next meeting, and frees up time for others to do actual work and not be caught up in endless meetings. Be mindful of time spent for meetings and if you can, block off certain times in your calendar for a no-web meeting.

Technology has come a long way in ensuring work is done easily and efficiently. But as Billy Cox once said, “Technology should improve your life, not become your life!” And while there is a need for organizations to thrive in the new normal, you should not sacrifice your well-being. Let technology work for you and not the other way around. After all, technology is an enabler. In the end, you are still more valuable than any piece of equipment.