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Insomnia, exhaustion, feeling trapped – Zoom fatigue from too much videoconferencing is real, so what can you do about it?
- Online meetings are the new normal, but we haven’t all got used to them – they can leave us feeling overwhelmed, drained and used up
- A Hong Kong company director who experienced insomnia and restlessness from too many Zoom calls learned to arrange fewer, limit their time and take more breaks
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When Stephanie Ko found herself facing a two-week quarantine in Shanghai, she scheduled more video calls than she had at any other time during the coronavirus pandemic. The director of Hong Kong-based LQ Pacific Partners had travelled for work and did not relish the idea of 14 days in isolation.
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“Those two weeks were so lonely, and as a coping mechanism, I had set up six to eight calls a day,” she says.
There were days when she was up at 4am to get ready for a 6am meeting, and she would have calls until after 7pm. This took a toll on her health, affecting her sleep.
“I usually fall asleep within minutes, but I was restless and suffered insomnia, staying awake for hours,” she says.
Videoconferences have allowed us to keep working, learning, and socialising during the pandemic. Videoconferencing has become the norm the world over. But staring at a screen full of heads for several hours a day can take a mental and physical toll, researchers say.
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