Would you be surprised to know that being on a video call is more energy draining than a face-to-face chat? That goes for a Facetime hang-out with your family and friends or a Zoom meeting with your colleagues.
Why? Because you’re continuously consciously and sometimes unconsciously checking your posture, environment, appearance, tone of voice and more. Especially as of late, we’ve all experienced a sudden increase in the number of virtual calls and meetings that we weren’t physically or emotionally accustomed to before.
Here are 3 tips for combating technology fatigue in your daily life:
Change up the communication choice: What was a Zoom meeting could have been an email. What was an email may be a quick phone call. Try substituting one communication tool for another that doesn’t suck the energy out of you.
Avoid multitasking: Now that Zoom and Facetime are so prevalent in our daily lives, the lure of multitasking looms large. But multitasking takes more energetic resources (and results in more mistakes) than focusing on just one task at a time. Try to minimize the amount of simultaneous typing, reading, and talking you’re doing everyday. Plus, when you multitask, you often miss the most critical information from the meeting you’re attending.
Sit in silence: In a face-to-face meeting there are natural silences because people are writing things down, contemplating and planning; but when silence hits a video call, people panic and feel like they need to fill the void. Check in with yourself the next time you’re in a virtual meeting and there’s a natural silence. Rather than rush to fill the void unnecessarily, take a pause and give yourself (and everyone else) a break.
When appropriate, use every chance you can to step away from technology. It won’t be avoidable in your work or home life all the time, but if you can be conscious of it and manage it, you’re one step ahead!