“Zoom gives me crazy anxiety and the same social pressure I would feel being invited to a party,” says Dani, a marketing manager based in Cleveland, who requested that only her first name be used to protect her workplace privacy. “I have to do Zoom calls all day for work. I cannot socialize that way right now.”
OneZero: https://onezero.medium.com/zoom-burnout-is-real-27e6938d0e1f
Some good advice and tips in this assessment. Three:
- Schedule yourself non-negotiable “Zoom time” to ensure you’re not getting wrangled into video calls you don’t have the energy for. Blocking out a couple of hours a week — say, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Saturdays — can help keep your calendar from getting overloaded, and can also provide you with a good out if you’re not in the mood. “I’d love to chat, but to avoid excess screen time, I’ve been limiting my video call time to a few hours a week. Are you around on Tuesday evening?”
- The best comparison might be to seniors living in nursing homes, who tragically are often hungry for social connection, and have too little contact with the outside world. A small 2020 study in the medical journal BMC Geriatrics found that nursing home residents experienced less loneliness, more vitality, and even less sensitivity to pain after connecting with family members once a week for six months via video call.
- Research shows that seeing someone’s face has more of an impact on your sense of isolation than just hearing their voice. So if you can push yourself to participate in a Zoom call every once in a while, you should. Give this new type of communication a chance, especially if you’re feeling isolated or lonely.
