Firstly, why do video calls make you feel exhausted?
It takes a lot of subconscious effort to process the faces and voices of multiple people at once through the lens of a screen. Only seeing people from the shoulders up means we miss a lot of non-verbal communication, such as hand gestures or fidgeting. Low video quality can also make it much harder to understand facial expressions. All of this forces our brains to work overtime as it tries to fill in the gaps in information, which wouldn’t be a problem if we were interacting face-to-face.
There can be other reasons too. When our own video is on, we grow more self-aware about how we’re coming across, and what we look like. That’s not only distracting but creates another layer of self-conscious thinking we don’t usually have in person.
Constantly dialling in from your laptop means you’re at your desk more, with fewer chances for you to get up and stretch those sore legs. Whereas if you’re in the office, you can move between meetings or pace up and down when you’re on calls. No wonder your body is aching as you’re sitting in the same position all day!
Even after work, there are also video calls with family and friends, for health appointments, exercise, and online learning. Being on the computer all day really adds to the general sense of screen fatigue. That being said, video calling is still essential during these times, so here are some tips to tackle video call fatigue.