February 17, 2021 / Danilo Joksimovic
Like other experiences associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Zoom fatigue is widely prevalent, intense, and completely new. — Jena Lee, MD
In May 2020, the Scena 360 team decided to go on a mission to combat ‘Zoom fatigue’ by creating a more immersive, natural, and private video conferencing service. In this, article I’ll describe what we’ve built to address Zoom fatigue and some research-based tips that you can follow to feel less fatigued during video calls. Scena 360’s core mission is to make virtual gatherings feel more like in-person gatherings.
The article “How to combat Zoom fatigue” in the Harvard Business Review suggests the following research-based tips:
Reduce onscreen stimuli… Research shows that when you’re on video, you tend to spend the most time gazing at your own face… If you’re on a call with five people, you may feel like you’re in five different rooms at once. You can see their furniture, plants, and wallpaper.
For external calls, avoid defaulting to video, especially if you don’t know each other well.
In November 2020, Scena 360 partnered with Wolf3D to provide customizable and realistic 3D avatars to reduce onscreen stimuli while aiding people that leave their webcams turned on during virtual gatherings.
These avatars can also make you feel more present and engaged, and reduce distractions for other meetup participants. I personally keep my camera turned off during most video conferencing meetings; I believe that customizable & realistic avatars are a great step towards making people less anxious during virtual gatherings.
Avatars in Extended Reality (XR) also implies:
- No more worrying about bad hair days, kids running behind you, or stains on your shirt.
- Looking at more familiar faces instead of blank tiles on your screen.
- Your own XR Digital Identity. Your avatar in Scena 360 is portable and customizable, which means you can immerse yourself into other extended reality applications as a virtual version of yourself.
Here are some other neat ways that Scena 360 is working towards ending Zoom fatigue:
- In Scena 360, you can meet up with your attendees in more realistic and shared 3D spaces — so you can feel like you’re sitting in the same room.
- With positional audio, we give attendees the ability to have separate conversations in parallel without breaking into awkwardly-moderated breakout rooms.
- With spatial video, we allow you to turn towards the person that you’re talking to, so you don’t have to say their name out loud before you address them.
You can try out our Zoom fatigue remedy on Scena360.com for free without creating an account or installing anything.
Get ready for the future workplace
A study by Ericsson disclosed some key findings about the future workplace:
Employees want an internet of senses for work […] They are also realizing that while connectivity is more important than ever before, digital meetings need to evolve before they become as effective as the real thing. There is simply a need for tools that better support remote interaction.”
Scena 360 believes in the future of XR. We’ll be investing in extended reality solutions to further support our remedy for Zoom fatigue.
We recommend these other articles which document additional tips for fighting Zoom fatigue:
- “A Neuropsychological Exploration of Zoom Fatigue”. Psychiatric Times https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/psychological-exploration-zoom-fatigue
- “‘Zoom fatigue’ is taxing the brain. Here’s why that happens.”. National Geographic https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/04/coronavirus-zoom-fatigue-is-taxing-the-brain-here-is-why-that-happens/
- “How do you overcome Zoom fatigue?”. Danilo Joksimovic https://qr.ae/pNBgE7
- “How to Combat Zoom Fatigue”. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-combat-zoom-fatigue
- “The reason Zoom calls drain your energy”. BBC https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting
- “Zoom fatigue is real — here’s why video calls are so draining”. IDEAS.TED.COM https://ideas.ted.com/zoom-fatigue-is-real-heres-why-video-calls-are-so-draining/
- Crowdsourced answers on “How do you overcome Zoom fatigue?” https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-overcome-Zoom-fatigue
