wearebridgie.io by lovekozhukhovskaya

Do you feel exhausted after video-calling?

Video is a great enabler for remote working, but the impact of video-calling on the human brain is still not completely discussed enough.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, countless people around the world have had to put their work and private lives into a virtual realm. Most of us do this without knowing what kind of traps remote work can push you into.

One of them is video-calling and it’s something that happens regardless of the platform you’re using whether it’s Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, FaceTime, or any other video-calling interface.

So …

Have you ever felt tired | exhausted | drained after a video-call?

I work for a remote-first company and my job is to evaluate if people are ready to handle remote work. For example, how they can imagine selling or talking with customers through video all day long.

I speak to over 20 candidates weekly and especially after a long day of back-to-back video-calls, I must say that some days I’m extremely “conked out”. And it’s normal to feel drained, particularly if you’re an introvert or highly-sensitive as I am. But after speaking with many candidates, I realize others feel the same way. They would talk about how weirdly tired, or exhausted they feel.

After hearing several stories like this, I have decided to dig into it and here we go. I’m writing like there is no tomorrow to share with you my all findings. I hope that these findings can make people understand what’s happening so they can figure out how to handle this new lifestyle. I hope it will give you a bit of understanding and awareness. Because that’s how a change for the better always starts in the first place.

So what happens to our brain? What makes us tired?

1. That little box on the screen is the only place for all your virtual interactions. And, all those expressions and emotions are confined in that box and present few obvious distractions. There is quite a lot of research that shows that it is extremely hard on our brain and we humans struggle with it.
2. Remember, we people always communicate even though we are quiet. We communicate through spoken word and through non-verbal cues. But just imagine when you call, you see the body from the shoulders up, it’s rare to see hand gestures or other body language expressions. And just imagine, that sometimes the quality of the video is poor too so that means even those facial expressions are hard to read. Not all of us depend on non-verbal communication. But those who do might have problems with video-calling and especially this part is making them feel drained.
3. During video-calling, we are literally staring at each other, it feels like a neverending “constant gaze”! And yes eye contact is good when speaking with each other, but too long eye contact can make us feel threatened or overly intimate.
4. Besides that, yet another study proves that people often have limited awareness and understanding of conveyed information through computer visual display. For example, group video chats often lead to less collaborative chats, where parallel conversations are impossible. We see and hear one speaker at a time, and we can’t recognize how participants who are not active are behaving.

So… to summarize these points:

We stare into that small box on the screen, to that small green light, we listen with high-focus and search for non-verbal cues that we can’t find. We feel threatened because the other side is staring at us and last but not least, our brain can’t hold an attention span and all this together simply drains our brain energy.

The solution: If you’re feeling overstimulated, turn off your camera!

1. Do traditional phone-calls from time to time. Accept and embrace that you don’t have to always do video calls. You can say something like: “If you would not mind, I’d love a break from video-calls, can we turn off the camera, or do a phone-call?” A lot of the time I see that the other side is a bit relieved too.
2. When video-calling close unnecessary tabs, programs (i.e. inbox or slack), and put your phone away.
3. Most people do 30-minute meetings. I would recommend 25 so you can buy yourself some minutes to rest your eyes or move around. If you do a 60 minutes meeting, after a while I would recommend asking to switch off the camera.
4. Visual backgrounds can drain our mental energy too. I recommend using simple, plain, peaceful, backgrounds. I can recommend agreeing as a group to have everyone who is not talking turn off their video and I would not recommend walking while video-calling, it is highly disruptive and energy-draining for the other side.
5. Consider having a facilitator when you’re on a large group video-call. And teach participants to “raise hand” when they wish to speak and the facilitator can invite them to speak.

Final thoughts:

As a #remotework supporter, I consider video-calling as the best tool that helps us to connect. It connects long-distance relationships, connects colleagues remotely, and yes, it might from time to time take our mental energy but it just proves its value, that in such a time as COVID it’s a tool that unites us and helps us to not feel alone. Plus, it is the best solution for people with high- sensitivity, autism, or for those who are not feeling comfortable at conferences, or networking events where multiple people are talking. It is a great solution for those who have hard times with in-person interactions or making small-talk. Video calling can release tension.

There is not a one-size-fits-all solution but I believe if we are able to navigate our mental energy through understanding what is wrong, then we can apply solutions step by step when needed.