A new study from the University of Arizona Eller, USA, has found that turning on the camera during an online virtual meeting increases “zoom fatigue”, which is the feeling of exhaustion and lack of energy after a day of virtual meetings and increases the feeling of fatigue and stress, the results of the study were published in the “American Journal of Applied Psychology.” “.
According to a report by time now news More than a year after the coronavirus pandemic caused many employees to switch to remote work, virtual meetings have become a familiar part of everyday life..
New research by Alison Gabriel, a researcher at the University of Arizona Eller School of Management, suggests that the camera may be partly responsible for feelings of fatigue during these meetings, and the research looked at the role of cameras in employee stress and explored whether these feelings are worse for some employees..
Gabriel said: “There is always an assumption that if the camera is on during meetings, it will be more engaged“.
Gabrielle added: “But there is also a lot of self-presentation pressure associated with being in front of the camera among some of the pressures is having a professional background and looking ready, or keeping the kids out of the room.“.
After a four-week trial involving 103 participants and more than 1,400 observations, Gabriel and her colleagues found it really tiring to operate your camera during a virtual meeting..
Gabriel said: “When people were using cameras or asked to keep the cameras, they reported greater fatigue than their non-camera counterparts and this fatigue is associated with reduced sound and lower engagement during meetings.“.
She explained, “It is therefore likely that those who had fewer cameras would participate than those who did not use cameras and this goes against the conventional wisdom that cameras are required to participate in virtual meetings.”“.
The research also found that these effects were stronger for women and new employees in the organization, likely due to additional self-presentation pressures. They have a growing sense of fatigue when they have to keep the cameras on during meetings“.
Gabrielle explained: “Women often feel pressured to effortlessly perfect or have a higher probability of interrupting childcare, and new employees feel they have to be in front of the camera and participate in order to show productivity.“.
The research explained that employees should have autonomy to choose whether or not to use their cameras, and others should not make assumptions about distraction or productivity if someone chooses to keep the camera off..