Work gatherings are often unpopular events, but many people experience particular discomfort when meetings are conducted by videoconference.
According to a new study by a team of researchers led by Chaeyun Lim from Michigan State University, this sentiment, commonly known as “Zoom fatigue” or videoconference fatigue, is linked with dissatisfaction about one’s facial appearance.
Surveys suggest workers generally prefer remote work when it’s an option, and those who frequently use videoconferencing tend to report little distress overall.
Yet Zoom fatigue is a real phenomenon, and although it could presumably affect anyone, women, and people of color report higher levels, as previous research has shown.
While not everyone needs videoconferencing, the technology is important for many industries and individuals, and can help improve efficiency and productivity across a range of scenarios.
Zoom fatigue could pose a significant barrier for the broader adoption of virtual meetings, or VMs, the researchers note. Yet little is still known about the relationship between VM fatigue and facial appearance dissatisfaction, and about how this fatigue affects adoption of videoconferencing.
“Despite VM fatigue’s critical role in shaping workplace interactions and digital inclusion in emerging virtual work environments, its effects on VM adoption – and the mechanisms linking facial appearance concerns, VM fatigue, and VM adoption – remain underexplored,” the authors write.
In hopes of addressing that, Lim and her team investigated impression management features – tools in videoconferencing software that let users adjust their appearance by tweaking the video feed of themselves.
The researchers recruited 2,448 US-based workers in various professional, technical, or scientific fields who at least sometimes work remotely and who regularly participate in virtual meetings for work.
A 15-minute survey documented how the volunteers felt about their facial appearance, as well as their thoughts on impression-management behaviors like using touch-up to enhance self video or using video filters or avatars.
Lim and her colleagues used structural equation modeling to study the relationships between these factors, finding that subjects who reported higher facial appearance dissatisfaction also experienced higher levels of VM fatigue.
This in turn led to increased use of impression management features to modify the user’s appearance.
Some subjects might have already experienced facial appearance dissatisfaction before developing VM fatigue, but as the researchers point out, there are indications that staring at ourselves on screens can feed this dissatisfaction.
“Excessive screen time, engagement with social media, and selective self-presentation through modifying photos before posting them have long been associated with appearance dissatisfaction,” they write.
“Similarly, the extended amount of time spent on VMs may exacerbate negative perceptions of self-image, as well as concerns of critical evaluation.”
VM fatigue caused by facial appearance dissatisfaction was also associated with negative perceptions of VMs, such as deeming them not useful, the study revealed – and thus influencing users’ opinions about adopting videoconferencing for work meetings.
Turning off self-video has been floated as an effective solution, but it remains impractical for many users, such as those who prefer or feel compelled to monitor their appearance during meetings.
“Beyond disturbing workplace interactions and productivity, such negative experiences can create psychological barriers to adopting VM technologies, contributing to technology inequity in the workplace,” the team writes.
The new study has some significant limitations, the authors note, such as its inability to reveal causal relationships and the recruitment of only workers from the US for the survey.
Future research should recruit subjects from broader cultural contexts, the researchers suggest, and be designed to investigate ways of helping to alleviate VM fatigue.
The study was published in PLOS One.
