Not only is Zoom fatigue here, but it also set in early this semester. After a year of half or more of our class meetings being held online, the novelty has definitely worn off. I know I'm tired after a day of Zooming but, until I read this article on The Greater Good site, I never really knew why. Since I'm a writer, used to long hours in front of a screen, I couldn't figure out why this particular variety of screen time feel so different.
Because I'm looking at a screen full of people.
Zoom meetings run counter to everything we know about body language and human interaction. Not only is the screen a real barrier, but the way we look at each other through it is different. Add to that trying to process new information while processing faces and body language in an unfamiliar way and it's no wonder Zoom leaves us lacking the motivation zoom anywhere except to the sofa for a nap.
Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to be able to interact with my students safely. I'm not, however, grateful for exacerbated dry eye symptoms and physical exhaustion of a different variety from usual classroom teaching fatigue. And, while it helps to know I'm not alone, it helps even more to understand why I feel this way.
Soon (I hope), Zoom meetings will give way to actual human interaction, and we'll probably miss having meetings in sweats, dressed to the nines only from the waist up. But it will be really nice to be able to actually look someone in the eye instead of doing so virtually.
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