Have you ever caught yourself yawning or fiddling with your smartphone while participating in a live streaming virtual event in Singapore? Perhaps, you also wished you were doing anything else but sit in your chair and absorb everything discussed in the virtual event. If you experience these things, you are not alone.
Almost two years into the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, using a virtual event and conferencing platform in Singapore like Zoom has been a norm for many companies. These platforms have become game-changers as almost every activity migrated to these platforms. It started from company meetings to the school and university classes to music concerts and entertainment content.
These video conferencing and virtual events platforms made us safe from COVID-19 but not from mental and physical exhaustion, also known as Zoom fatigue.
Zooming Into The Zoom Fatigue
Zoom Video Communications, popularly known as Zoom, is a video communications software used for conferences, meetings, webinars, live chats, and virtual events. It is also a favourite platform for event management system services and companies.
According to Statista, Zoom was the world’s second most prominent meeting provider for hybrid companies in 2021, falling behind Microsoft Team Meetings.
It is not surprising for employees to experience Zoom fatigue throughout the course of a hybrid work setup during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
What is Zoom fatigue?
Zoom fatigue is feeling completely exhausted after a Zoom call or meeting. Taking multiple video calls, being in front of the camera, and watching live streaming events in Singapore throughout the day are taxing the brain, causing mental fatigue.
In a study conducted by Stanford University, they discovered that women experience Zoom Fatigue worse than men. Besides gender, factors like age, race, and personality also affect people’s vulnerability to Zoom fatigue.
What causes Zoom fatigue?
Here are the causes of Zoom fatigue:
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Intense close-up eye contacts
In a camera-on setting of Zoom calls and any other video conferencing and live streaming services and platforms in Singapore, the members’ faces are plastered in small boxes on the computer screen. It is like standing in front of the class or being on stage facing the audience.
In a typical face-to-face meeting, the members face the speaker. Whereas in a Zoom meeting, the members seem to be staring at you the entire conference despite not being the speaker.
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Mirror anxiety
Mirror anxiety is simply looking at the self-view during the Zoom meeting.
A video conferencing and virtual event platform in Singapore has a self-view setting that previews your camera’s real-time footage on your screen, mimicking a mirror.
People hardly focus on themselves or their appearance when performing daily tasks, such as working in the office, doing household chores, and studying. People can be highly critical of themselves, and seeing themselves constantly in the mirror, or in this case, a self-view preview, is unhealthy. They become focused more on their reflection rather than the discussion and unintentionally more self-conscious.
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Lack of non-verbal cues
Speaking does not limit communication. In fact, people can communicate even without talking to each other. People can read and interpret non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions, body language, and other habits, such as rolling your eyes when annoyed.
However, video conferencing platforms and live streaming services in Singapore impair this ability. Video conferencing software and event management system preview limited frames, only capturing the face of the person.
Therefore, it is more difficult for people to get a holistic picture of the person speaking, and they are forced to focus more on the voice and words of the speaker.
Moreover, it is also harder for people to send non-verbal cues to others. Because of the limited frame, they exaggerate gestures, such as nodding, giving a thumbs up, or shaking their head, which is unnatural in a casual face-to-face conversation.
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Lack of mobility
People do things unconsciously during casual conversations or meetings. For example, at conferences, people would doodle things on their notes. In friendly conversations, people would fiddle with their fingers or play with items in their hands.
Formal video conferences limit the person’s mobility. The person has to sit in front of the camera for hours when attending a virtual event live streaming in Singapore.
Moreover, the first cause, the intense close-up eye contact or the feeling of being constantly watched during Zoom meetings, prevents people from performing unnecessary movements that could distract other Zoom meeting attendees. Being “frozen” at the same spot feels unnatural for people.
It is also why people are more relaxed on phone calls or informal video calls with friends and families because they have the liberty to move around and do other things whilst on call.
It is a challenge for a virtual event platform and virtual event organisers in Singapore to reduce Zoom fatigue among people. Fortunately, there are ways to do it.
How To Combat Zoom Fatigue
1. Disable full-screen and allow camera-off as options
One way to reduce eye contact on Zoom calls is to disable the full screen. It minimises people’s faces on Zoom frames, giving the person an illusion of distance and personal space. It is also a challenge for live streaming services in Singapore to upgrade interface changes on their platforms.
Furthermore, allowing people to turn their cameras off during meetings can also help people with social anxiety.
2. Hide self-view
Many video event platforms and live streaming services in Singapore today allow people to hide the self-view feature. It reduces mirror anxiety and helps people focus on the meeting.
3. Different camera angles
Talk shows use cowboy shots and full-body to capture the host’s gestures. Many event management system organisers apply these shots in professional virtual events, such as seminars and classes.
It makes the live streaming in Singapore more natural and engaging.
4. Have occasional breaks
Having occasional breaks amid conferences or allowing people to turn their cameras off for a few minutes encourages them to move around and do other things, such as stretching and going into the bathroom.
It also reduces on-screen stimuli.
Takeaway
It is ironic that Zoom meetings are not as physically demanding as face-to-face meetings but can still be equally exhausting.
Attendees, event organisers, and the chosen virtual event platform in Singapore must work together to combat Zoom fatigue.
Evention
Evention provides live streaming services for virtual events in Singapore. Visit Evention today.
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