We all know these constant video calls are doing something to our brains. How else could we get tired and frazzled from sitting in our homes all day? Now Microsoft has done a little brain science and discovered that constant video calls increase your stress and brain noise. Tell your boss! The study had 14 people participate in eight half-hour video calls, divided into four a day — one with 10-minute breaks between and the other in one block. The participants wore EEG caps: brain-monitoring gear that gives a general idea of types of activity in the old grey matter.
What they found is not particularly surprising since we all have lived it for the last year (or more for already remote workers), but still essential to show in testing. During the meeting block with no breaks, people showed higher beta waves associated with stress, anxiety, and concentration. There were higher peaks and a higher average stress level, which increased slowly as time passed. Taking 10-minute breaks kept pressure readings lower on average and prevented them from rising. And they grew other measurements of positive engagement.
It’s undoubtedly validating, even if it seems obvious. And while EEG readings aren’t the most exact measurement of stress, they’re pretty reliable and better than a retrospective self-evaluation of “How stressed were you after the second meeting on a scale of 1-5?” And, of course, it wouldn’t be safe to take your laptop into an MRI machine. So while this evidence is helpful, we should be careful not to exaggerate it or forget that stress occurs in a complex and sometimes inequitable work environment.
For instance, a recent Stanford study shows that “Zoom Fatigue,” as they call it (a mixed blessing for Zoom), is disproportionately suffered by women. More than twice as many women as men reported profound post-call exhaustion, perhaps because women’s meetings tend to run longer and are less likely to take breaks between them. Add to that the increased focus on women’s appearance, and it’s clear this is not a simple “no one likes video calls” situation.
Microsoft, naturally, has tech solutions to the problems in its Teams product, such as adding buffer time to make sure meetings don’t run right into each other or the slightly weird “together mode” that puts everyone’s heads in a sort of lecture hall (the idea being it feels more natural).
Stanford has a few recommendations: permitting yourself to do audio-only for a while each day, positioning the camera far away and pacing around (make sure you’re dressed), or turning off the self-view.
Ultimately the solutions can’t be entirely individual, though — they need to be structural, and though we may be leaving the year of virtual meetings behind, there can be no doubt there will be more of them in the future. So employers and organizers need to be aware of these risks and create policies that mitigate them — don’t just add to employee responsibilities. If anyone asks, tell them science said so.