Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue

In this episode I unpack Bailenson’s (2021) publication titled “Nonverbal overload: A theoretical argument for the causes of Zoom fatigue,” which describes four potential causes for Zoom fatigue.

Welcome back to another episode of the
CSK8 podcast my name is jared o'leary
each week alternates between an
interview with a guest or a solo episode
where i unpack some scholarship
in this particular episode i am
unpacking the paper titled
nonverbal overload colon a theoretical
argument for the causes of zoom fatigue
this was written by jeremy in balenson
now this particular paper is available
for free and you can find a direct link
to it in the show notes which you can
find by clicking the link in the
description
or the app that you're listening to this
on or by simply going to jaredlery.com
when you click on the article title for
this particular paper it'll take you
directly to the paper
and if you click on the author's last
name it'll take you to their google
scholar profile so you can check out
more publications by this particular
author
alright so here's the abstract for this
particular paper quote
for decades scholars have predicted that
video conference technology will disrupt
the practice
of commuting daily to and from work and
will change the way people socialize
in 2020 the copen 19 pandemic forced a
drastic increase in the number of video
conference meetings
and zoom became the leading software
package because it was free
robust and easy to use while the
software has been an essential tool for
productivity
learning and social interaction
something about being on video
conference all day seems particularly
exhausting
and the term zoom fatigue got on quickly
in this article i focus on non-verbal
overload
as a potential cause for fatigue and
provide four arguments outlining how
various aspects of the current zoom
interface likely led to psychological
consequences
the arguments are based on academic
theory and research but also have yet to
be directly tested in the context of
zoom
and require future experimentation to
confirm instead of
indicting the medium my goal is to point
out these design flaws to isolate
research areas for social scientists and
to suggest design
improvements for technologists end quote
alright so if i had to summarize this
particular paper i would say that this
paper describes four potential causes
for zoom fatigue
now one thing i want to point out in the
abstract is this is not a study this is
not empirical research this is
written by somebody who has done
empirical research and quite frankly has
done a lot of research
in publications the way i read this
particular paper
is this author is basically saying hey
we are
collectively as a society creating a
term called zoom fatigue
and the author is trying to figure out
what might be causing that so-called
zoom fatigue and what can we do about it
so they are going to highlight some
prior research and prior theories that
might be related
and talk about it in relation to video
conferencing specifically through
zoom as a platform now while i read some
of the main
summaries of this particular paper i'm
going to talk about okay so
if this is a thing which it may or may
not be what can we
as cs educators do about this if we are
doing remote teaching and learning
all right so there's a short intro and
basically the intro is saying that
hey we don't really have a lot of
studies that are looking at
spending multiple hours a day on a
particular medium through video
conferencing
and so this paper is going to highlight
some theoretical explanations
based on prior work that might explain
why people are feeling fatigued when
engaging in
zoom or other video conferencing
platforms for several hours a day
alright so the first section is called
eye gaze at a close distance
all right so here's a quote from pdf
page two quote
on zoom behavior ordinarily reserved for
close relationships
such as long stretches of direct eye
contact
and faces seeing close up has suddenly
become the way we interact with casual
acquaintances co-workers and even
strangers
there are two separate components to
unpack here the size of faces on the
screen
and the amount of time the viewer is
seeing the front on view of another
person's face
which simulates eye contact end quote so
the point that the author is making is
that when you're engaging in
a like the brady bunch style
conversation where you have a bunch of
different squares where everybody is all
looking into their cameras or looking at
their screen which might have their
camera
right above or below or to the side of
it this makes it so that it looks like
everybody is staring at you
all the time when in actuality they're
probably looking at their screen
maybe looking at their email or just
zoning out whatever
now the author points out that if we
were engaging in a meeting let's say
with like 20 people
arbitrary number at any given moment not
everybody is going to be staring at the
person who is actually speaking
people might be looking off to the side
people might be looking at the notes
that they're taking on a notepad
people might be looking at a device that
they're typing into
or they might just be looking away from
the person who's speaking but still
actively listening
so when engaging with a conversation
one-on-one
or in in group settings there is
significantly less
eye gaze as people aren't always staring
at you
while you were speaking or when you were
speaking to somebody else
now another thing in this section the
author points out is depending on the
size of the monitor that you are using
it's going to change how large the face
is of the person that is
on the other end of the video conference
platform so if you're in
a group with one person it might look
like they are like sitting right in
front of you if you have a large monitor
like
really close to you if you are
communicating with somebody who
is in a group call and there's like
let's say 50 people on it
and you see 50 different squares
different tiles and you have a small
monitor
they're going to appear very small and
very far away and the author is arguing
that if the person appears really close
to you
this kind of comes across as a more
intimate
personal distance that is typically
reserved for close family members and
friends etc
here's a quote from pages two and three
of the pdf
quote but with zoom all people get the
front on views of all
other people non-stop this is similar to
being in a crowded subway car
while being forced to stare at the
person you are standing very close to
instead of looking down or at your phone
on top of this it is as if
everyone in the subway car rotated their
bodies such that their faces were
oriented toward your eyes
end quote okay so what can we as cs
educators do about this
so one thing is we might be able to
change the angle of the camera that
we are using so for example if you watch
a lot of like twitch
streamers or video game streamers they
will often have their camera
off to an angle off to the side and
sometimes they'll have a monitor over
there so while they're gaming they will
look
straight on at the game that they are
playing and then when they want to
communicate directly to their chat or
people who are watching
they will physically turn their head
look at the other monitor or the camera
and then we'll speak directly into the
camera there so this makes it so they
are not staring directly at
their audience the entire time but
instead are looking at their screen and
then when they want to look over and
give that impression of the direct eye
contact
it will physically turn their head and
look at their camera so if you have
an external camera this is one thing
that you could potentially do
to make it so that you're not having it
appear as though you are staring at
somebody the entire time
you can be more intentional with when
you are in fact trying to give direct
eye contact
now if you don't have an external camera
but you do have an external monitor you
can flip that so you can have it so that
you are looking at your external monitor
which might be off to the side and then
turn your head to look at your
like laptop that might have a built-in
camera to give that direct eye contact
when you want to now when it comes to
the
the the size of people who you are
meeting with
you can minimize your window or at least
make it smaller
and make it so that they don't appear
really large on the screen so i like to
when i'm engaging in one-on-one
conversations
make it so that the person is very small
and i move that window
right to the top of my my monitor and
put it right underneath where my camera
is at
so when i'm looking at my screens
i will be looking at the different
windows and like typing different stuff
in and when i want to look directly at
somebody
i will look up at their small box of
where they are at and that happens to be
right below my camera so it gives the
impression that i'm now providing direct
eye contact
when i am actually looking at their
little video square instead of looking
at one of the open windows on my screen
another thing regarding eye gaze by the
way that the author didn't really
mention
i also block the blue light that comes
out of my monitors because i am working
on my computer pretty much all day long
and so i will enable the
night light mode and set that to the
maximum setting which gives this like
orangish
tint to my screen and honestly it makes
it so that my eyes aren't as exhausted
while looking at a screen all day long
this does mess with the coloring of
things so if i'm working on something
that requires me to look at the coloring
of the screen then i will just turn it
off temporarily
watch it or engage with whatever it is
that i'm doing and then i will turn it
back on
because it does help me you can also get
eyeglasses
if that's something of interest to you
just make sure you actually look online
to make sure that
it does what it's supposed to do and
it's not just a hunk of plastic that you
might be paying a lot of money for all
right so that's the eye gaze at a close
distance
discussion so the next section in this
paper is titled cognitive load
so the basic gist of it can be
summarized in this particular sentence
that's on page three of the pdf quote on
zoom
nonverbal behavior remains complex but
users need to work harder to send and
receive signals
in quote so there are a lot of
non-verbal things that we need to
consider when
engaging in video conferencing like
engaging in zoom
so the author mentions like centering
oneself in the center of the camera's
view
nodding in an exaggerated way to make it
clear that people can see that you
agree or disagree or whatever looking
directly into the camera
and trying to make some eye contact when
speaking in addition the author cites a
study that found that people speak
fifteen
percent louder one five percent louder
when interacting on video
and then if you're doing this all day
long this can be even just
straining on your voice so in addition
to sending some
non-verbal cues the author also mentions
that we have to work harder when
receiving non-verbal cues
from video conferencing platforms here's
a quote from page three
quote for example in a face-to-face
meeting a quick
side long glance where one person darts
their eyes to another has a social
meaning
and a third person watching this
exchange likely encode this meaning
in zoom a user might see a pattern in
which on the grid it seems like one
person glanced at another
however that is not what actually
happened since people often don't have
the same grids
even if the grids were kept constant it
is far more likely the glancing person
just got a calendar reminder on their
screen or a chat message
users are constantly receiving nonverbal
cues that would have a specific meaning
in a face-to-face context but have
different meanings on
zoom in quote so in other words somebody
might be responding to something that
has nothing to do with what you or
somebody else is saying they might be
looking at something else they might be
browsing
tick-tock or looking on youtube or
responding to somebody else that's in
the room that you can't see who's off
camera etc
because we are missing that context we
are
engaging in a higher amount of cognitive
load because we're trying to like fill
in those gaps and figure out well why
did they just give that non-verbal
signal
in addition because zoom tends to focus
on
upper body non-verbal cues so like for
example
you don't necessarily see a person
standing or sitting
entirely all we see is from like the
chest up this makes it so that we are
missing some cues related to body
posture
or whether or not their legs are crossed
or uncrossed whether or not somebody is
slouching
etc so we're focusing all this attention
on upper body nonverbal cues and are
unable to
see some of the other non-verbal cues
that we would normally see in person or
might see okay so as cs educators what
can we do about this so one thing that
we might be able to do is just be aware
that some of our nonverbal cues
might be coming across in ways that are
unintended so maybe posting in the chat
while somebody else is talking
hey i really agreed with that comment
that susie just made just to make it
clear who your non-verbal signals are
directed at so the next section of this
paper is titled an all-day
mirror and here's a quote from page four
of the pdf quote
imagine in the physical workspace for
the entirety of an eight-hour day
an assistant followed you around with a
handheld mirror and for every single
task you did and every conversation you
had
they made sure you could see your own
face in that mirror this sounds
ridiculous but in essence
this is what happens on zoom calls even
though one can change the settings to
hide self
view the default is that we see our own
real-time camera feed
and we stare at ourselves throughout
hours of meetings per day
end quote now the author mentions that
there's been studies going on for
decades about
what happens when people look at
themselves in the mirror and they tend
to be more evaluative
of seeing themselves in the mirror so
while this can lead to better
social behaviors this can also be
stressful for some people
so for example the author mentions that
there's a study that found
that this self-focus might actually
quote
prime women to experience depression end
quote from page four so this is
something that we need to be aware of
so one of the things that we might need
to do when working with students or
colleagues is to simply demonstrate
and explain how you can turn off this
self view for people who want to turn it
off now i will say that i actually
prefer to keep mine on
i'm aware that you're able to turn it
off and i intentionally turn it on
because my non-verbal cues tend to look
upset when i'm just thinking
likely from all my years on drumline
where we were told to not smile
but because i'm better able to see that
now i'm able to recognize oh my
nonverbal cues come across in a way that
i don't intend
and i'm able to course correct with that
or explain hey
i'm just thinking right now i promise
i'm not mad at you so for me this has
actually been beneficial but for some
people it might be
detrimental so something that we should
be aware of and honestly is a pretty
easy fix
just right clicking and then click the
option to hide the self view alright so
the last section of this paper is titled
reduced mobility
so here's a quote from pdf page four
quote
even in situations where one is not tied
to the keyboard the cultural norms are
to stay centered within the camera's
view
frustum and to keep one's face large
enough for others to see
in essence users are stuck in a very
small physical cone
and most of the time this equates to
sitting down and staring straight ahead
during face-to-face meetings people move
they pace stand up
and stretch doodle on a notepad get up
to use a chalkboard even walk over to
the water cooler to refill their glass
end quote so the author says that one of
the things that we can do is simply turn
off the camera or simply go to a phone
call
when able to as this can make it so you
can be more mobile something that i
would also like to add is i am
frequently found in meetings walking on
a treadmill
so i built a treadmill desk where i
basically
took a tv stand mounted it above my
treadmill
made it so that i could set my laptop on
the arms of the treadmill
by using a long drum pad and then
connect that to a monitor that i put on
top of
the tv stand that's mounted on the wall
and that makes it so that i can walk
during meetings
this is really helpful for me some of
the things that i've also done
is i have turned off my camera and will
be like on my rowing machine
or on an exercise bike or simply
on the ground stretching while in a
meeting this makes it so that i'm able
to be much more mobile and move around
but another thing that i like to do at
least when i'm hosting meetings is
do the pomodoro method using 5010
approach we might work for 50 minutes
and then take a 10 minute break
and then that 10 minute break you can do
whatever you want get up move around
stretch
do jumping jacks hands hands whatever
and then we come back and continue for
another 15 minutes five zero
and then take another 10 minute break
this is how i tend to work throughout
the day
so if i'm not on the treadmill desk and
i'm working on my desktop
i will work for 50 minutes and then i'll
take a 10 minute break where i walk on
the treadmill
and read a book or listen to a podcast
or even drum on the pad
that is resting on top of the treadmill
so this has been really helpful for me
in terms of getting me moving throughout
the day and i highly recommend it for
anyone else
interested in increasing their mobility
while engaging a lot of video
conferencing
all right so those are the four main
areas in this particular article
again this is not an empirical article
based on a research study
but it is still very valuable to think
about how
prior research and frameworks might
inform this feeling of
zoom fatigue it might help us better
understand what we can do to make it a
little bit better
working remotely or teaching remotely
alright so normally i would end these
episodes sharing some of my own
lingering thoughts and questions but for
this one i'm going to end with a
question of what other strategies do you
have
for decreasing zoom fatigue if you have
some other strategies that you highly
recommend for others to consider
please consider sharing them on twitter
on facebook wherever
email carrier pigeon so for example you
can use hashtags
on twitter such as csk8 and include a
link to this paper or this podcast that
kind of
unpacks potential causes of zoom fatigue
if you would like some resources that
are related to
remote learning please check out the
resources section in
the show notes i'll include some links
in there and please consider sharing
this with somebody who might benefit
from hearing this particular episode
and with that that concludes this week's
episode of the csk8 podcast i hope
you're all staying safe and are having a
wonderful week thank you so much for
listening

Article

Bailenson, J. N. (2021). Nonverbal overload: A theoretical argument for the causes of Zoom fatigue. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(1).

Abstract

“For decades, scholars have predicted that videoconference technology will disrupt the practice of commuting daily to and from work and will change the way people socialize. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic forced a drastic increase in the number of videoconference meetings, and Zoom became the leading software package because it was free, robust, and easy to use. While the software has been an essential tool for productivity, learning, and social interaction, something about being on videoconference all day seems particularly exhausting, and the term “Zoom Fatigue” caught on quickly. In this article, I focus on nonverbal overload as a potential cause for fatigue and provide four arguments outlining how various aspects of the current Zoom interface likely lead to psychological consequences. The arguments are based on academic theory and research, but also have yet to be directly tested in the context of Zoom, and require future experimentation to confirm. Instead of indicting the medium, my goal is to point out these design flaws to isolate research areas for social scientists and to suggest design improvements for technologists.”