How to Combat Zoom Fatigue as a Student

Keeping up with school while adapting to a whole new way of learning is challenging. Not being able to converse with your peers in person and interact with your teacher in person is a change that most of us are getting used to by now. But — while we are adapting to flat-screen interactions, Zoom fatigue can get to us. Here are some tips that we hope will help ease remote learning that will be here for a while.

Why do we experience Zoom fatigue?

Studies conducted at Stanford explain a couple of main reasons we feel more drained than usual in our classroom environments.

1. We don’t normally deal with excessive eye contact, especially from multiple sources at once: Many more eyes feel like they’re on you when they wouldn’t be in class.
2. Inadvertently and constantly looking at yourself is energy-consuming: It’s unnatural to see yourself as a third person during conversations.
3. The nature of calls leads to a sedentary lifestyle: Goes without saying that zoom classes minimize mobility which would normally energize you.
4. It’s harder to pick up cues such as body language which requires more concentration: Zoom conversation flattens social interactions. Looking at faces without bodies makes it hard for you to pick up nuances in body language.

What can we do about it?

Put pen to paper
Mix things up and try taking notes the old-school way. You might find that your attention is focused on content rather than fixating on peoples’ reactions or participation in the virtual classroom.

Try not to look at yourself during calls — use the hide self-view button if there is one
Bailenson, the author of the Stanford study, made an analogy that zoom calls are akin to having real-life conversations but with a mirror held up to your face 24/7. Having a reflection of yourself while trying to engage with content can make you more critical about your appearance and less attentive to the topic.

Change up where you take your calls
Sitting in the same spot can be dull and take a toll on your concentration. By simply moving to a different room, or even a different spot in your room might make that small difference. A change in environment can potentially stimulate a change in your take on learning that day.

Minimize your windows and multi-task less
We’re all used to opening chats on the side to ask your friends what exactly was said in the call — or if you’re slightly disengaged your mind would venture off and open another tab on that browser to do a quick google on a term you don’t quite understand. While this might make you more alert, it actually is more draining with the catching up you have to do and paying attention to multiple sources at once.

Slot in breaks
This advice is told repeatedly with reason. Allowing yourself to wander between rooms, or take a brief walk outdoors for your brain offload and get a refresher — also to remind yourself that your life exists beyond the screen.

Make sure your eyes take a break too
If you don’t have the capacity to take a long break to stretch your legs, make sure you manage to give your eyes a break by looking at far distances. The 20–20–20 rule suggests that for every 20 minutes, you should look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.

Develop healthy sleep routines
As Zoom calls can be taxing on mental health, your physical health must be kept in shape to accommodate it. Sleep can energize and prepare you for energy-consuming digital interactions.

Remote learning has the benefits of being able to learn in a safe environment wherever you are. However, it also has its limitations that we can find our way around with a little patience and time.