Author: William Kerr

…Zoom whiplash, an extension of a March 21 post on Zoom Fatigue.,

Over the last year or so much of our workday consisted of moving from high cognitive audio/video conversations to ‘on our own in our space’ time then back to high cognitive video calls and then back again on our own.

A sort of Zoom whiplash so it may not just be the number of video calls we have but also how we arrange them.

This idea was spawned by an article I read, which may not be true from a scientific point of view, but is something to consider as we incorporate video calls into our workday.

In an office environment, in-person meetings provide a natural transition period whereas video meetings take place immediately and blend in with the rest of our on-screen work. Meetings (video calls) then become task and/or context switching situations that reduce our productivity by demanding unnecessary mental flexing.

When most of us run errands we try and combine them as much as possible into one outing which is called ‘task clustering’ in the cognitive science world.

This could be something to look at in more intentionally managing our video conferencing needs; cluster calls together as much as possible to reduce context, task, and/or social to alone switching.

Task clustering could be applied to all our work by breaking it into video call time, email time, deep work time etc., if we have some control over our workflow. In doing so we might be able to not only avoid some Zoom whiplash and fatigue but also end up getting better work done with some extra energy left at the end of our day.

Written while listening to Vangelis – Blade Runner Soundtrack

…and not the other way, puts us on the path of a first responder.

Walking in the direction of, or at least standing still long enough to have a good look could also work.

As a first responder we see the challenge and get to work. One way to approach this is to think of difficulties or problems, especially in our work, as projects.

Put a team together, figure out what is needed and wanted, design/build a project process and finish it off. If we can successfully do it for a marketing campaign why not a problem or difficulty.

And, if your the first responder, you may get to do it your way.

Written while listening to a Spanish guitar compilation.

…do we really need to feel fatigued anymore?

Not having to spend time getting to, sitting in and returning from the many necessary and, more often than not, unnecessary meetings we are required to attend should be a relief.

Winston Churchill’s comment that “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us,” could be said today as, “We shape our technology and afterwards our technology shapes us.”

In a Christoph Magnussen video, (at 2:40) he mentions that we usually take technology the way we get it and begin using it without spending time to set it up for how we want it to help us.

The pandemic threw many into the remote work/video conferencing world with little or no training or experience and therefore people used it as they got it. Stanford University conducted the first peer-reviewed study of Zoom fatigue and beyond the first common-sense revelation that “just because you can use video doesn’t mean you have to,” have uncovered four main reasons for the fatigue and ways to reduce it. In short:

1. Excessive amounts of close-up eye contact is intense.
2. Seeing yourself during video chats constantly in real time is fatiguing.
3. Video chats dramatically reduce our usual mobility.
4. The cognitive load is much higher in video chats.

Now, two years in, we can step back and reevaluate our use of video conferencing, and how best to work it, with a little more intention and add it to our regular communication tools when and where appropriate.

Shape it and use it the way we want it to help us.

So, do we spend time driving across town in post-pandemic traffic to meet someone or save time and connect with a Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, or whatever call? There is now a choice many may not have realized was available before the pandemic.

And, while we’re at it, we could thank all our friends and colleagues for putting up with all we may have put them through in our own learning of how to navigate a video conferencing world.

Written while listening to some Jimi Hendrix