We all know they make these constant video calls something to our brains. How else could we get tired and feel at home all day? Well, now Microsoft has done a little brain science and found out that yes, constant video calls increase your stress and brain noise. Tell your boss!
The study had 14 people who participated in eight half-hour video calls, divided into four per day – one day with 10-minute breaks between them, and the other all in one block. Participants wore EEG caps: brain monitoring equipment that provides an overview of the types of activity in the old gray matter.
What they found is not particularly surprising, because we have all experienced it in the last year (or more for the workers already removed), but it is still important to show in testing. During the break-free meeting block, people experienced higher levels of beta waves, which are associated with stress, anxiety and concentration. There were higher peaks and a higher average level of stress, plus it increased slowly over time.
Taking 10-minute breaks kept stress readings lower on average and prevented them from increasing. And they have increased other measures of positive engagement.
Image credits: Microsoft / Valerio Pellegrini
It certainly validates even if it seems obvious. And while EEG readings are not the most accurate measure of stress, they are quite reliable and better than a retrospective self-assessment along the line “How much stress did you have after the second meeting on a scale of 1 to 5?” And, of course, it wouldn’t be safe to take your laptop in an MRI machine. So, although this evidence is useful, we should be careful not to exaggerate it or forget that stress takes place in a complex and sometimes unfair work environment.
For example: a recent study published by Stanford 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 have reported severe burnout after the call – perhaps because women’s encounters tend to take longer and are less likely to take breaks between them. Add to this the increased emphasis on the appearance of women and it is clear that this is not a simple situation “no one likes video calls”.
Microsoft naturally has technological solutions to the problems in its Teams product, such as adding buffer time to make sure meetings don’t run into each other or the slightly weird “mode together” that puts everyone’s head in some sort of lecture hall (the idea being that it feels more natural).
Stanford has a few recommendations, such as giving yourself permission to make sound only for a period of time each day, position the camera away and walk (make sure you’re dressed), or simply turn off the view.
In the end, the solutions may not be entirely individual, however – they must be structural and, although it is possible to leave the year of virtual meetings behind, there is no doubt that there will be more in the future. Therefore, employers and organizers need to be aware of these risks and create policies to mitigate them – not just in addition to employee responsibilities. If anyone asks, tell them that science said that.