There are only so many frozen screens and sorry-I-think-you’re-cutting-outs we can take in a day. Yet this year, faster than most of us can keep up, our lectures, study groups, extracurriculars, and time spent with friends and family were all suddenly happening within the same digital space.
Logically, with our commute times cut down and less time spent getting ready in the morning, we should have more time in the day than ever before. It’s a common theme, however, among my friends and professors alike, that online schooling somehow leaves us feeling more tired out than a normal, in-person class would. It’s also common to feel like something is missing after hanging up on a Zoom call with friends.
If you feel similarly, you’re not alone. Canadian research on the psychology behind “computer-mediated communication” discovered that video chat is an inadequate substitute for real-life interaction.
The vast majority of the strategies our brains use to understand people around us are dependent on non-verbal cues. In person, it’s much easier to develop trust and get our ideas across, thanks to our unconscious brains working tirelessly to analyze patterns that allow us to get an accurate read on people. Human-to-human bonding is very intuitive, and merely seeing someone’s face over Zoom isn’t enough—subtle nonverbal cues, such as pheromones or eye contact, are much harder for our brain to pick up on. This can seriously mess with the part of our brain responsible for “theory of mind”: the ability to understand the desires, intentions, and beliefs of others.
That explains why silence is natural to the flow of real-life conversations, but can trip us up on Zoom. A 2014 study found that video chat delays of as little as 1.2 seconds can make us perceive the responder as less friendly than we typically would.
So-called “Zoom Fatigue,” as many have coined it, is the result of your brain exhausting itself searching for information that simply isn’t there. Criminology research provides evidence that videos don’t actually allow us to make the best judgements about others. When trying to tell if someone is lying, for instance, video deceives us: we make better predictions listening to audio alone, or even by reading a transcript.
There’s also the reality of being on camera, which can make us hyper-aware of being watched. I’ve sat in so many calls with my brain in overdrive, trying to make sure I look just the right amount of engaged (nod here, take a sip of water there).
Another aspect of our changing landscape that throws our brains for a loop is the fact that things that used to happen in totally separate contexts (such as classes, extracurriculars, and catching up with friends and family) are now all happening in the same space. Gianpiero Petriglieri, an INSEAD (Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires) professor of learning and development, has a great analogy: “Imagine you go to a bar, and in the same bar you talk with your professors, you then meet up with your parents or go on a date—isn’t that weird? That’s what we’re doing now.”
There are a few things we can do to make our online calls a bit more reflective of real life. Try limiting video chats to those that are necessary and remember that turning off your camera (when permitted) can help your focus and concentration. Focus, too, on creating buffers that allow you to transition between personal and school or work-related identities. Doing things between calls or classes,like stretching or having a snack, can help recalibrate our brains. If you’re having as much trouble with your Zoom group projects as I am, here’s a little shred of hope that video chats might not be sticking around forever.
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