How to Combat Zoom Fatigue and Digital Overload

The past few months have been a blur of conference calls, Zoom meetings and hours spent in front of my Macbook Pro.  No wonder my eyes are feeling tired and my body  and mind are fighting off fatigue

Now more than ever, we are relying A TON on our devices - they’ve allowed us to stay connected…to keep working…to shop..to take virtual workout classes…and to be entertained - all good things right about now, no? 

Thanks to technology I'm blessed to be able to work from anywhere in the world... but I've also learned the hard way how being so constantly connected can be damaging and draining.

Overuse and dependency on tech can lead to serious physical and psychological issues including anxiety, depression, and isolation.   Our brains are just not wired for the types of virtual interactions, like the back to back Zooms (a brand new noun many of us have added to our vocabulary) we are experiencing right now.  

The symptoms of  ZOOM FATIGUE are real, and can be damaging to our health and overall wellbeing.

As humans, we are meant to communicate through a myriad of clues beyond our spoken words.   When we meet someone in person, we intuitively make note of the other person’s posture, movements, breathing, etc.  All of these come together to create the complete communication picture.  When you think about this, it’s easy to see how communication from the shoulders up can be really taxing - you’re relying only on partial input to create the foundation for the interaction.  AND, when you consider a Zoom room with multiple participants, the taxing effects multiply quickly.  On video meetings, the only way to show we’re engaged and paying attention is to look at the camera non-stop - which is not something we’d do when having a face to face conversation or even sitting in an in-person meeting room.  

Research is beginning to show how overuse and dependency on our digital devices can lead to psychological issues including depression, anxiety and ironically, isolation.

And the physical effects are just as real and can include eyestrain (which shows up as dry eyes and blurred vision) as well as poor posture and headaches.  Plus, the blue light our devices emit has been found to accelerate aging a shorten lifespan!  No thank you.

Here are a few tips to sidestep the negative effects of tech overload and combat Zoom fatigue:

1.Institute my NO GLOW ZONE.  Seriously.  Just set some limits and STICK TO THEM.  Like ‘no tech after 6pm’ , or one whole day or weekend spent mainly tech free.  It's rejuvenating, it's restorative, it's A NON-NEGOTIABLE!

2.  When in a Zoom meeting or meet-up select the option that allows you to just see the one   person speaking vs. seeing all (oh, so many) of the tiny squares with each person’s head.  

3. Try the optometrist-recommended 20-20-20 rule:  every 20 minutes, glance away from your screen for at least 20 seconds at something that’s at least 20 feet away.

4. Go OG - mix up your connections throughout the day- sometimes a basic phone call (without face time) is just perfect. This is especially true if you don’t really know the people on the call or are connecting for the very fist time as video tends to be a more intimate connection point.

5. Don’t try to multi-task while in a video call or meeting.  Stanford researchers have show that people who are multitasking while on video calls cannot remember as well as other meeting participants with a singular focus.

How's your relationship with tech?

Do you get screen-free time? Or need help breaking free?

Hit REPLY and let me know.