Q’s List: Five practical tips to combat Zoom fatigue

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Maybe there’s a time you wondered why you feel so tired after taking many virtual calls in Zoom. Many can relate to this scenario, especially to those who are working or studying from home.

And even though our Zoom meetings must go on, here are some tips to lessen fatigue and have a more productive day:

Disable the self-view feature

No matter how much time we are spending to look presentable for our Zoom meeting, the self-view feature does not help at all. As humans, we’re not used to staring at ourselves as we talk to other people. Even you’re confident with your quarantine look, self-view causes anxiety that may be linked with Zoom fatigue. There’s a chance that we often worry about the way we look or talk in front of the camera.

Preventing this anxiety simply means turning off the camera feature whenever you can. If the meeting does not allow this, open up your camera app before a meeting to make any last-minute adjustments, test the lighting, or make a quick location change.

Rest for a while or take a break

Many people who are working remotely are experiencing there’s no longer a boundary between work and home. Since every work-related talk is virtual, quick calls and daily meeting schedule can be overwhelming. Coffee can help you feel awake but it can only do so much against back-to-back meetings.

To prevent the fatigue from a busy meeting schedule, solve this by allowing yourself to have mini-breaks in between. These scheduled breaks are going to help you regain your strength before the next meeting. Aside from that, it will let you plan for your next appointment so it will proceed smoothly.

Give yourself a few minutes to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. You can also step outside your work area or just look outside your window to relax.

Try other ways of communication

In the midst of transitioning to new normal, we may have neglected the other modes of communication. We must remember that we can still send email, text, or call our friends, workmates, and family members. Sure, there’s something wonderful in connecting with someone from the comfort of our couch. However, other channels may save our eyes from hours of screentime and fatigue.

Next time that you’re in charge of scheduling meetings, try to give your co-workers a chance to avoid Zoom fatigue. You can just compile the information into an email instead. If there’s something to discuss, schedule the conference call so they’ll have enough time to look professional and prepare for it.

List your meeting agenda

Most of us love to talk about quarantine lif and hear about it from others. But then, too much chatter can cause meetings to go longer than planned. We tend to go off-topic making meetings more likely to go over the scheduled time and that’s one source of Zoom fatigue. The best way to prevent Zoom fatigue induced by oversharing? Have a plan.

How to combat this? Avoid oversharing by having a plan for the meeting. Create an itinerary by scheduling minutes and other talking points so your meetings will run according to it. This in return will limit every participant’s virtual time and prevent fatigue.

Practice compassion for yourself and others

We must accept the fact that everything is new and most are still adjusting with the work from home set-up. Monitor yourself if you’re experiencing tiredness since we’re not machines. With this in mind, you can also check in with others their energy levels before proceeding with the virtual meeting. Remember this: We are not working from home. We are at home, during a crisis, trying to get some work done.