![]() Where are the kids? What if they are loud? Will someone need something? How do I change this background? What if my internet becomes unstable? Fuck, my internet is unstable. Our worry is not just on the actual work that needs to get done, but of all of the other external variables too. Yet we have to stay, join the meeting, and hope no one walks by without clothing. We are going into our daily meetings stressed, cranky, and anxious, and Zoom meetings are reminders that nothing is normal and we don’t know when it will get better. Thanks to the pandemic, our bodies’ default is set to either fight or flight. And if we’re trying to do this with more people in meetings than we’re used to in the name of efficiency, we are mentally and emotionally taxing ourselves in a time when we are in a constant state of feeling drained anyway. We are hyper-focused on cues we normally take in naturally when in the same physical space as someone. With Zoom meetings it can also be hard to find the right beat to speak, or know if someone else needs to talk but doesn’t have the forwardness to interrupt. That single deprivation requires a lot of conscious effort.” We sense too little and can’t imagine enough. Petriglieri went on to say, “Our bodies process so much context, so much information, in encounters, that meeting on video is being a weird kind of blindfolded. Especially if one of your coworkers has morphed themselves into a mermaid. That gives us valuable feedback we struggle to get while on a video call. It’s not that all-day meetings weren’t draining before, but when we are in a physical space with another person or group of people, we’re better able to read body language and watch for facial expressions. I can read a room and group of people well, but online webinars and Zoom calls limit this superpower I have - and they’re limiting yours, too. I am a public speaker and an extrovert to the core. “It’s easier being in each other’s presence, or in each other’s absence, than in the constant presence of each other’s absence.” While technology can be effective for keeping us connected, there is also a loss of connection - the frustration I feel so perfectly summed up by a tweet from Italian professor Gianpiero Petriglieri: ![]() If you are sick of your online workspace, you are not alone. ![]() All of our work meetings, online classes for our kids, virtual social time and story hours, and streamed fitness classes come with physical and emotional tolls. The fatigue you are feeling from a day of virtual meetings is real. From people being stuck as images of potatoes to intentionally using green screens or dressing up as different characters, Zoom is redefining business casual in hilarious ways.īut as fun as it is to laugh about people who live with us accidentally waltzing into the background of important meetings in their undies or threatening to nag our kids for snacks when they are on their video calls, Zoom can also cause exhaustion. The pandemic has given joke makers and meme creators plenty of material to turn lemons into lemonade, and Zoom meetings have created plenty of opportunities for the laughs we need right now. Thank goodness for the people who can cut through the bullshit and find the ridiculousness during stressful times.
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