When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler thanks, makes total sense. Will definitely do this from now on!
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@mike_bowler
we also can be "running" from video meeting to video meeting. Which we also did before, sometimes.Except we actually *moved* between meetings. We stepped out to grab water, coffee. These small movements helped soothe the nervous system and rest the brain.
It's easy to demand too much of ourselves when every conversation is a remote meeting, and when texts, alerts & popups want to manage our attention.
We must foster new self-care prectices in this environment, or burn out.
@deborahh Very good point. Even a few minutes of a real break helps us to reset.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler I've thought about doing this for years and have repeatedly decided not to, because I know I would be even more stressed if I turned off self view. It's energy well spent to prevent me from randomly scowling, rolling my eyes and picking my nose on camera.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler Michael McIntyre did a sketch about this in like 2017.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler That created an insight, and prompted me to write this: https://lieba.ch/how-people-feels.html
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler i would call it video call fatigue, zoom fatigue is when you are constantly angry about everyone using this shit software by a asshole company that does not give a fuck about peoples privacy.
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@deborahh Very good point. Even a few minutes of a real break helps us to reset.
@Furthering @deborahh @mike_bowler
Also not everything has to be video.
We we used to just speak to people just on the phone.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler at my $DAYJOB (which had been remote from way before covid times) the usual practice is to enter calls with video on, greet each other, and then turn the video off “to save bandwidth” and start on the actual topic of the call.
Sometimes if the call is with people who already had a call with recently we just skip the video.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler I just turn my camera off, hate seeing myself on video and increases bandwidth use also.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler
IOW everyone lived the Autistic life for a while, since we're always having to self- monitor Are our lips smiling enough, Are we making an appropriate amount of eye contact/ faking eye contact convincingly, Are our brows knitting into a pseudo-frown that makes NT people think we're upset, Are our cheeks relaxed & apple-y. & we do all that without a self-view! Self-view helps us confirm if we're doing it right
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler my mom desperately wants to do this but we haven't been able to figure out a way on her phone. Do you have any suggestions?
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler I built a video call thing to address this https://rendezvous.family - it replaces the self view with a faint reflection of yourself -as if you were looking at the other person through glass. It also tries to minimise the latency and give good clear audio. People grumbled and very few use it, but I still find it useful and relaxing to use.
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@mike_bowler my mom desperately wants to do this but we haven't been able to figure out a way on her phone. Do you have any suggestions?
@wil what kind of phone? For an iPhone, it’s the following:
To hide or show your self-view on the Zoom iOS app, join a meeting, tap More in the bottom-right corner, select Meeting Settings, and toggle Hide Self View on or off.
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@Furthering @deborahh @mike_bowler
Also not everything has to be video.
We we used to just speak to people just on the phone.
@SuperMoosie @Furthering @deborahh @mike_bowler I also built an audio first thing for a sci-fi bookclub, participants were visually represented by little robot characters, or later snapshots an the text of the book. But everyone insisted that zoom was better, so we used that.
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler @quixoticgeek But then how can I tell if people can see me checking my phone?
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When COVID hit and we all switched to video calls overnight, everyone started reporting how tired they were at the end of a day of meetings. Part of that was obviously that we were in a pandemic and stress levels were high, and yet there was something in the video meetings themselves that made it so much worse.
Someone proposed that the culprit might be the video self-view, that little window showing your own face while you talk.
So I ran an experiment and turned mine off. The difference was noticeable after even just one meeting. I was much less tired when I couldn’t see myself.
When your self-view is on, you’re doing two cognitively different tasks simultaneously: monitoring and adjusting your appearance while also following the content of the meeting. That double-load is cognitively draining, across every call, all day.
Turn off the self-view and your brain gets to do just one thing: the meeting itself.
Research backs this up. The continuous self-view creates what’s been called “the mirror effect”. The psychological stress of perpetually monitoring your own image has no real-world equivalent, and it compounds exhaustion across every call.
The fix takes about thirty seconds. Go into your video software settings and look for a self-view or mirror option. In Zoom it’s under Video settings. In Teams it’s accessible during a call. Turn it off, then check in with yourself at the end of your next meeting day.
This isn’t the only contributing factor to zoom fatigue. In my experience, though, it’s the easiest change we can make, and it makes a significant difference. Try it for yourself.
@mike_bowler definitely going to try that because yeah, days like that are exhausting
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