Covid-19 changed the world in a lot of ways, but one development that has continued to this day is the over-use of video conferencing technology.
Working from home became the norm during the pandemic when people were not able to go into the office. The result of this is the reliance of Zoom and Microsoft Teams, which allowed workers to attend meetings virtually.
While this was an important move to maintain workplace productivity, over the years, many people have developed ‘Zoom fatigue’, which is why there is a growing need to return to in-person events.
The working from home epidemic
Despite it having been a few years since the lockdowns have been lifted, lots of employees have chosen to maintain a hybrid approach to work to improve their work-life balance and save time and money on commuting.
In fact, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed 28 per cent of working adults in the UK enjoyed hybrid working between January and March 2025. At the same time, the number of people who only travel to work since March 2022 has dropped.
This means millions of people still conduct their work meetings online every day, reducing the amount of time they come face to face with their colleagues.
Over the years, this has led to ‘Zoom fatigue’, having a big impact on employees’ social and communication skills, their mental health, staff retention, company loyalty and business progression.
– What is ‘Zoom fatigue’?
Zoom fatigue occurs when people spend too much time speaking with their colleagues virtually in online meetings. This can result in a number of symptoms, including:
- Lack of eye contact
- Constantly reviewing your own appearance
- A need to exaggerate emotions
- Reduced physical activity
- Brain overload
Lack of eye contact
Having to look at multiple faces in one frame, as opposed to addressing one person at a time can lead to people reducing their eye contact with one another.
It can become overwhelming to face lots of people at once and, as such, they can become drained after meetings, as well as develop unnatural in-person communication skills, as they do not know where to look.
Constant review of your own appearance
Try as you might to ignore your own appearance on a video conference call, you are always presented with your face staring back at you. Therefore, it can become too easy to pick yourself apart from the constant viewing.
This can increase your self-consciousness, reduce self-confidence, and even result in camera anxiety, making subsequent meetings harder and harder to attend.
Some people turn off their cameras, but this can make communication even more difficult, and make them feel as though their presence is not required in the meeting, and ultimately, in the workplace.
A need to exaggerate emotions
Due to the unnatural environment of a virtual meeting, many people feel the need to over-exaggerate their emotions and gestures.
This can mean their opinions come across stronger than intended, or they may appear more aggressive or emotional than intended.
Reduced physical activity
One of the benefits of working from home is being able to save time commuting to work, which means people can take their kids to school, do household chores or get some more rest. However, it also means they are less likely to move around.
Not only does this have an impact on their physical health, leading to aches in their neck, shoulders and back, but movement also naturally helps with cognitive function.
According to the CDC, it can reduce cognitive decline, boost neuron activity, improve memory, and aid processing. This means it helps people with their concentration and provides them with greater energy and motivation.
Brain overload
Finally, Zoom fatigue can lead to mental exhaustion, as the brain has to work twice as hard when it is in an online meeting.
This is because it has to try and guess non-verbal cues that it might have missed, and it has to cope with the many scenes and faces that are presented on the screen.
Consequently, staff might not perform as well if they are drained from all the virtual meetings or they may have developed anxiety about them.
Benefits of in-person events
Subsequently, it is important that workers are given the opportunity to have more in-person events, instead of relying solely on online conferences.
This helps to exercise their social and communication skills, allows them to have movement breaks to recharge, and helps them to reconnect with their colleagues in a natural way.
Regular face-to-face meetings, as well as corporate events, can reduce this mental and physical exhaustion in employees, helping to boost their productivity, as well as their loyalty to the company, and their value within the team.
