Allow people to turn their cameras off, to fight Zoom fatigue

Using a camera during virtual meetings is more fatiguing for women and newcomers

A recent study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology showed that allowing people to turn their cameras off is a way to fight Zoom fatigue. “Zoom fatigue” refers to the exhaustion people feel after being on videoconferences all day. Even though it’s named after Zoom, this phenomenon has been observed with many similar videoconferencing tools (e.g., Microsoft Teams).

Why does it occur?

Bailenson has identified four hypotheses about why we experience Zoom fatigue:

• Excessive amounts of close-up eye gaze: The amount of eye contact we engage in on video chats and the size of faces on screens are unnatural. In situations where we are forced to stand very close to strangers (e.g., in an elevator), we experience discomfort which makes us look away from the faces of others in order to minimize eye contact. When using videoconferencing tools like Zoom, however, this isn’t possible. Regardless of who is speaking, each person is looking directly at the eyes of the other people for the duration of the meeting. When there are many faces on the screen, most people try to pay attention to all of them — a type of multitasking called continuous partial attention.

• Cognitive load: in regular face-to-face interaction, nonverbal communication is simultaneously effortless and incredibly complex; it is quite natural for us to naturally make and interpret gestures and nonverbal cues subconsciously. In video calls, we have to work harder to send extra cues. We are forced to consciously monitor our nonverbal behaviour and to send cues that are generated intentionally. For example, nodding in an exaggerated manner or making an effort to stand in the middle of the camera. Even talking is harder in video calls; research has shown that we speak 15% louder when interacting on video.

• Increased self-evaluation from staring at video of oneself: spending hours in Zoom calls can feel like spending hours in front of a mirror. The default in all videoconferencing tools is showing us a real-time camera feed of our own face. As a result, we end up staring at ourselves throughout hours of meetings per day — this is unnatural. According to Bailenson, “it is likely that a constant “mirror” on Zoom causes self-evaluation and negative affect”.

• Constraints on physical mobility: when communicating in person (or even on the phone) we walk around and move. In most cases, when participating in a video call we have to stay between a half-meter and a meter away from the camera, which restricts our movement. Previous studies have shown that locomotion and other movements can lead to better performance in meetings.

Is camera use to blame for Zoom fatigue?

Shockley et al. (2021) empirically investigated the causes of Zoom fatigue. The goal of their study was to evaluate the role of camera presence (i.e., turned on vs. off) in Zoom fatigue. They hypothesized that camera use during virtual meetings relates to fatigue, and fatigue relates to meeting outcomes (i.e. how engaged and empowered participants felt). They also aimed to identify how individual differences (e.g., gender, how long someone has been working in an organization) can exacerbate the impact of camera use on fatigue. They recruited 103 participants from a US-based company within the healthcare sector that employs several thousand remote workers between August-September 2020. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two conditions: half of the participants kept their camera on (off) for the first 2 weeks of the study, and then switched to keeping their cameras off (on) for the last 2 weeks. Levels of fatigue (“Right now, I feel fatigued.”), engagement (“In meetings today, I felt engaged.”), and voice (“In meetings today, when I had something to say, I felt like I had a voice”) were measured at the end of each day. When analyzing the data the researchers controlled for a number of factors that could affect their results such as hours spent in meetings and time of the day. Their main findings are summarised below:

• using the camera in video calls was fatiguing

• the fatigue effect could not be attributed to time spent in or number of virtual meetings

• fatigue by itself was problematic for employee voice and engagement in meetings

• women and newer employees experience higher levels of fatigue by the use of cameras

These findings align with Bailenson’s hypotheses and popular ideas suggesting that video calls generate a feeling of “being watched” which forces us to try to manage impressions and directs our focus inward, inducing fatigue.

What does this mean for remote companies?

Encouraging employees to use the camera may inadvertently harm positive virtual work behaviours, especially since Zoom fatigue can have a negative effect on employee voice and engagement.

Shockley et al. (2021) proposed that the effect seems to be more pronounced for women because they feel heightened pressure to demonstrate competence compared to men, while also feeling the need to meet societal appearance standards. New employees also experience higher fatigue levels; that could be because they feel the need to impress and present themselves in a positive light.

Companies should have flexible camera use policies, allowing employees to turn their cameras off if they need to. This could be especially beneficial to women and those who are newer in an organization. Having cameras off does not reflect disengagement. It has the potential to help to prevent burnout and promote attention.

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