Before COVID 19 quarantine, I had never heard of Zoom. Suddenly, all the face to face gatherings I used to have is now through Zoom--club gatherings, family reunion gatherings, lunches with friends, meetings at work, teaching students, job interviews, and even church is now done with Zoom. It's as if my whole world has been crushed onto a computer screen!
I think Zoom is exhausting because as I have been reading articles about it--it is not a natural way for people to communicate to have somebody's face so big on a screen. The human brain is wired to think that if somebody is that close to you, that is a threat.
Then, you worry about if your house looks neat/sloppy/and you worry if people like or dislike your house which is normally your sanctuary away from work. Now when I zoom faculty meetings, for the first time, I see my teaching colleague's living rooms, dining rooms, backyards, and even a bedroom. I can't help being distracted by their house in either admiring it or wishing they had more lighting if they sit too close to a lit window. I worry if my boss approves or disapproves of the way I designed my house! I never had to worry about that before when I was in the office!
Then, you have to be aware of how you look. Now when you are face to face, you can look away, you can become attuned to the other person's face. But with Zoom, you get eye strain by staring so unnaturally at that big face on the screen and you have to try hard to look interested, focused. If you sit too close to the computer, I can see every wrinkle, every zit, every wart on somebody's face and for me, that's just too much information. They advise people to sit away from the computer for a more natural look.
It is hard to get a drink of water without looking impolite. Also, video etiquette dictates not eating during a video chat. What if you are thirsty? hungry?
You also worry if a family member will interrupt you. My niece is 4 years old. She likes to have all the attention. If she senses my attention is on the computer, she will get cranky and cry. Imagine your friends, colleagues, and students hearing your niece cry. What impression does that make on them so you worry if your colleagues think you are a bad Aunt. It is all about the optics of it all that is exhausting.
I remember talking to a colleague and her cat came and walked on the keyboard purring. It wanted to be fed NOW. I didn't even know my colleague had a cat! She felt awkward having to excuse herself from the meeting momentarily to feed her cat!
So far, we have been lucky--no Zoombombing---this is another new word I have learned since the COVID 19 pandemic quarantine! The world has surely changed in the last 5 weeks I have been locked down in my house!
I do think Zoom is fun because it does offer me a way to connect with family from around the world that I never had been able to do before so it is not all negative! I will post a Why Zoom is fun in my next blog post!
Here is an article about Zoom fatigue from The Chronicle of Higher Education
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-Is-Zoom-So-Exhausting-/248619
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