Four ways Zoom interaction overwhelms our brains

Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, noticed how quickly Zoom fatigue arose as video conferencing became commonplace during the pandemic. His open-access article explores why: Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue from Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000030

Bailenson notes four aspects of the Zoom interface that create "nonverbal overload"

• Excessive amounts of close-up eye gaze
• Cognitive load
• Increased self-evaluation from staring at video of oneself
• Constraints on physical mobility

While based on tested theory, Bailenson admits no Zoom-specific research has yet tested these barriers; he wants the article "to point out these design flaws to isolate research areas for social scientists and to suggest design improvements for technologists." He uses Zoom as a generic, focusing on its particular affordances since its 30-fold growth between December 2019 and May 2020.

18-minute BBC podcast with author Jeremy Bailenson
https://pod.link/261786876/episode/0c576ae6b94be62a85abd2a6bbeff520

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