How to Eliminate Zoom Fatigue

After utilizing Zoom for my classes and meetings for over a year now, I find it can be tiring to open up my laptop, sit at my desk, and go through hours of Zoom meetings everyday. The effects of online work can range from mental exhaustion to physical symptoms like headaches, muscle pain, and eye strain.

To reduce the taxing effects of Zoom, try reducing the amount of stimuli your brain needs to process when you are on a Zoom call. I know it can be tempting to multitask during calls or it may be necessary to have multiple tabs open at once. But it can help you visually to limit the amount of extra information by closing some of those tabs or keeping other technology like phones and iPads away from you for the duration of the Zoom meeting. That way, your brain can focus on only one thing, allowing it to conserve its energy and resulting in you feeling much less drained after a Zoom call. 

Furthermore, hiding yourself from view in a Zoom call can help reduce visual stimuli further. An article by Forbes discusses how people often scrutinize their own faces on Zoom calls and this awareness can make people more self-conscious. This also causes people to spend more energy and time worrying about their appearance. 

Additionally, setting a precedent for etiquette at Zoom meetings can help tremendously. Whether you are creating the guidelines or others are, it can be beneficial to clarify whether attendees are expected to have their cameras on or off and their mics muted or not. When people are informed about how they are expected to attend, they are able to interact more and are at ease. With in-person meetings, it is typically much clearer on how attendees are expected to act, so clarifying these guidelines for online meetings can help them run more smoothly.

For the more physical symptoms of Zoom fatigue such as muscle tension, utilizing exercise and movement between online meetings is essential. After every meeting ends, stretching for 5-10 minutes will allow your muscles to move after they have been static for so long. And for eye strain or headaches, turning down the brightness of your devices and zooming in to read larger text can be beneficial. You can also incorporate some eye exercises to relieve eye strain in between meetings as well.

Try out some of these Zoom tips to see what allows you to prevent Zoom fatigue in your daily routine.