Do you ever feel exhausted after a meeting on Zoom or Teams?

It turns out, you are probably not the only person in the meeting to feel the same way. 

A study from the University of Galway has found that the reason for your fatigue is because you are stuck looking at an image of yourself during the meeting.

Speaking to Breakfast Briefing, Business Analytics & Society Professor Eoin Whelan said while a lot of companies could not have operated without Zoom or Teams during the pandemic, the technology also has its drawbacks. 

“During that time, people were forced to adopt these technologies and reported feeling very fatigued as a result,” he said. 

“What we don’t actually know is, was it the technology itself causing fatigue? Or was it other issues going on like social isolation or having to do stuff like schoolwork with kids at the same time? 

“So, a lot of the research around this time has been on self-reported data [and] we wanted to replicate these findings using a different technique.” 

File photo shows a Zoom video meeting. Picture by: MoiraM / Alamy Stock Photo

Some 40 people took part in the study and researchers found there was a notable difference in how people felt about a meeting if they could see a video of themselves during a meeting.

“What we noticed is that there’s certainly a fatigue but that only kicks in when people can see a mirror image of themselves,” Dr Whelan said. 

“If you’re looking at a picture of yourself on Teams or Zoom, that seems to have an effect which generates mental fatigue.”

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels.

The reason for this, researchers believe, is because seeing an image of yourself can make you feel more anxious, as you begin to feel stressed about your appearance. 

“They’re worried about how professional they look, for example,” Dr Whelan said. 

“That might contribute to extra effort [and a] cognitive load, which in turn results in fatigue.”

For anyone who often feels tired during online meeting, Dr Whelan said they should simply turn off their camera or hide the icon which displays their own image.

Main image: A tired businessman having a video call via a computer in the home office. Image by: Alamy.com