Video calls have become a normal and habitual moment in life during these months: before they were limited to a few business calls or greetings between distant friends and relatives, now they are also used to make dinners, aperitifs and even appointments. And as many have noticed – and as the study and analysis site The Conversation tells us – video calls also have their problems: while helping to maintain social relationships, they sometimes make them seem cold and unreal, leaving those who make them “tired and emptied”.
Experts explain that when we interact with people through the screen, rather than live, our brain has to work much harder to understand what is happening and to grasp the messages, not being able to rely on other physical elements, such as the smell of the room. body language and peripheral vision. Studies have found that candidates in video-call job interviews tend to perform worse than in-person ones. Another research, conducted on doctors attending a seminar via video, showed that they focus more on making an impression of the teacher than those who followed him live, who were more interested in the validity of his arguments.
Another research found that when judges make video-call decisions about refugee asylum claims, they show less trust and empathy; the asylum seekers also tended to lie more, but the judges were less aware of the details of the story that did not return. Communication worsens if the line is disturbed, even if for a very short time: according to an experiment, when the quality of the video call worsens people tend to lie and are more suspicious.
According to other studies collected by The Conversation, video calls are also exhausting from an emotional point of view. Psychologists who do online therapy share the concern of “losing touch” with their patients. In oral exams via video call, students predisposed to anxiety become even more anxious and therefore tend to do worse. Anxiety increases if the screen also shows an image of their face. In general, in fact, seeing one's face on the screen can lead us to focus more on the effect it has and undermine the confidence in our abilities.
Video calls can also trigger a strong desire for recognition. An analysis found that employees who work remotely and who don't feel important in their company overdo it in trying to get noticed. They excessively share materials and anecdotes with colleagues, and perform extra tasks to attract the attention of bosses.
There are a few things you can do to get around fatigue from Zoom, a leading video calling platform. The Conversation explains that not doing other things at the same time as the video call can help you stay focused; recommends taking a few breaks between calls and stepping away from the screen to reflect and put your ideas back together. Hiding your image while talking also helps you worry less about how you look and focus on what others are saying.
Finally, you can find other ways of communicating, even if they seem more aseptic and remote, such as text messages, emails and phone calls: a study for example found that those who explain something over the phone do so more clearly. In addition, sending a handwritten thank you note makes the recipient particularly happy, and according to another study, it is therapeutic for the writer as well. Finally, sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to do it silently: one experiment found that one group finished a riddle faster without speaking than another who could speak.
