Combating Virtual/Zoom Fatigue

Over the last two years, a lot of office work has been shifted online due to obvious reasons. This remote work was thought to be more accessible and fun at the start, but its side effects have impacted individuals across the globe. If you feel tired, anxious, and nervous recently, you may also be affected by Zoom Fatigue.

This condition often rises due to attending online meetings and doing remote work. People used to have a life where they attended meetings, worked for a few hours, came home, went out for a walk or met with friends, and so on. Now, you attend meetings online, meet friends online, don’t get to go out as often, and generally have less in person interactions. This can make anyone feel dull and monotonous.

There’s no confirmed solution available to fight this virtual fatigue, but there are some ways through which you can stay active and not let it consume you.

• Turn Off Your Camera

Online meetings are disturbing to some people because they make them nervous. Of course, in real face-to-face meetings, you’re not used to seeing yourself while presenting something or attending official meetings. To avoid this nervousness, you can turn off your camera if possible or look at it while attending the meeting instead of the screen to look more confident.

• Get Ready and Move Places

Being at home means you’re lying in your bed the whole day and getting up only to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. Well, to breathe life into your body, you need to be active. If you don’t, there will be nothing but zoom fatigue. So, whenever there’s an online meeting, instead of just wearing a formal shirt, get ready properly, just like you did while going to the office. Plus, it’d be better if you move places to attend the meeting to get a better vibe. Maybe, you could go to a special corner in your house or your study?

• Avoid Excessive Usage of Screen

With all the remote work, there’s no time for your eyes to rest and stay away from the harmful lights coming out of these electronic devices. Therefore, try to avoid screens as much as possible. Take part in real-life activities, i.e. gardening, guitar or piano playing, book reading, painting or whatever stuff you find intriguing. This way, whenever you’ll be at a meeting, you won’t be feeling zoom fatigue as if you’ve been online the whole day. In fact, it’ll be refreshing to attend meetings and talk to colleagues like it was before!

• Determine the Working Hours

Since people have started working online, they think everyone is available all the time. Whenever there’s something, don’t just hop up for the call. That is what causes virtual fatigue in the first place. Thus, plan your schedule, determine the hours you’ll work, and let all your colleagues know about it too so that they won’t be contacting you every other hour whenever something comes up.

Remote work is not easy, especially when it comes to maintaining your health, body, and brain while being at home all the time. It is challenging, but if you manage to find more interactions in real life than you do on the screen, you’ll definitely combat this zoom fatigue well.