Lehigh Student and Staff Entries
Zoom Fatigue: It’s a Marathon not a Sprint
4 Helpful Tips for Finding a Better Zoom Balance
I am hearing a lot about this new buzzword called “zoom fatigue”, kind of a new quarantine concept, and I wanted to write about it today. I wonder what the equivalent of zoom fatigue would have been during the Spanish Influenza. Maybe letter writing fatigue?
Zoom fatigue in my own words is when you are so tired of using zoom for scheduling meetings, tuning into a class session, and even carving out time for social gatherings.
Why is it so draining? –Because your life is happening in one single space with non-stop visual stimuli and all your different parts of your day are stirred into the same platform!
There are no longer multiple types of environments to walk into and change up your day. Zoom meeting after zoom meeting after zoom meeting becomes robotic and isn’t the same as giving your brain and body time to stretch and break before the next part of your schedule.
Yet, zoom is so accessible and I have a love-hate relationship because it has allowed me to reconnect with friends and become more social.
Need a good zoom balance? Here are my tips:
- Check in with yourself. If you are like me and have back to back zoom meetings, try to incorporate either a meditation, a stretch, a walk, or some water before zooming right into the next one.
- Be Present on Zoom. Even though we are virtually on zoom, sometimes we tune out because it’s easy. My advice is put your camera on if you can, participate to your fullest advantage, and close out your browsers. Being half on zoom and half on Facebook, doesn’t really get you anywhere.
- It’s OK to turn down a zoom meeting with friends. For your friends who may not be zooming all day long, they don’t see how it would be possible to get zoom fatigue or start to condition your mind that a zoom is equivalent to academia. Saying no during a busy zoom day of classes is totally OK and your friends should get it!
- Change Where You Zoom. Maybe if the zoom fatigue is getting real because you’ve been in the same chair for 8 hours, try alternating between different rooms or going outside to give yourself somewhat of a break. If you do have the means to step outside and zoom, try it out!