DIGITAL LIFE

‘Zoom fatigue’: when the home office can lead to mental exhaustion

The need for social isolation due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus has led many professionals to resort to the so-called home office, translated as work at home. But the practice, accompanied by video meetings, has generated reports of mental exhaustion.
The tiredness generated by the excess of videoconferences has already received a name: Zoom fatigue. The term can be translated as tiredness of Zoom, and refers to the American company that provides video calling services.
Thaís Gameiro, a neuroscientist with a doctorate at UFRJ and a partner at the corporate advisory and education company Nêmesis, points out that the term is new, has spread with the crisis and has motivated studies on the relationship between a high amount of videoconferences and a feeling of exhaustion. The expression applies to any video call, including WhatsApp, Skype, Google Meet and other platforms.
For her, the great cause of the phenomenon is an absence of changes in the work routine for the virtual world. “The face-to-face work routine was replaced by the virtual one, but without discussions about limitations and necessary adaptations”, comments Thaís.
The meetings are exhaustive not only because they are held in large quantities and take more time, but also because the screen of computers and notebooks, and the images shown by them, generate more stimuli for the brain, which uses more energy to interpret them. It is this expenditure of energy that generates the feeling of exhaustion.
"The expectation around the home office is that it would bring more quality of life, more free time and less physical or mental fatigue by saving time and the commuting process", notes Thaís, noting that for many this expectation was not confirmed.
The neuroscientist warns, however, that Zoom fatigue is different from the so-called Burnout syndrome. “Burnout is an exhaustion due to work, but it is overwork accompanied by negative feelings, such as frustration, lack of return or a harmful work environment”, explains Thaís. Although the phenomenon is recent, at first Zoom fatigue is not associated with these negative feelings.
In addition to exhaustion, exposure to screens for long periods of time can also lead to headaches and muscle pains: the light emitted by them is tiring, and also makes us blink less, favoring dryness and irritation of the eyes.
“The headache comes from the over-functioning of the cognitive part of the brain, located mainly on the forehead, since it works at a speed and time that we are not used to. When we pay attention to the screen, we also intend some facial muscles, which creates pain ”, explains Thaís.
But how to solve these problems? The neuroscientist considers that the solution depends on the companies and the employees. For companies, she considers that "it is important that members of the human resources area can talk to employees, understand their situation and provide training to raise awareness of the organization regarding people's limits".
In this sense, practical measures that already help are reducing the number and duration of meetings by video calls. They can be replaced by conversations via text messages, emails or audios. The elimination of images, which stimulate the brain much more than texts or audios, already reduces the work of the brain and avoids the feeling of mental tiredness, avoiding problems for the work team and a drop in productivity.
The employee must identify changes in the routine he can make to reduce fatigue. It is important to focus on one activity at a time, as doing several, or thinking of several, at the same time creates tiredness. The use of cameras in meetings can be limited to situations of need, also to remove the stimulus from moving images on the screen. In addition, one should avoid spending the entire work period looking at the computer or notebook screen, and try to take some sporadic rests.

Expectation x reality
For the neuroscientist, the current scenario is also linked to an expectation that the home office would bring more productivity to people, which generates not only self-collection, but also a demand on the part of companies.
“It is important to remember that it is not a traditional home office, we are in the middle of a pandemic, isolated, leaving little, and all of this stresses us. They are elements of difficulty that compete for attention, this affects the disposition ”, observes Thaís.
In this sense, it is necessary to understand what can be done under the current conditions, seeking not to increase productivity, but just to keep it as much as possible: “seek a routine that makes sense to you, define what is essential for the day and the who can move on to the next day if you can't deliver, and be kind to yourself and your difficulties ”.

João Pedro Malar-Brazil/mundophone