“After a week of shelter-in-place, I was just flabbergasted by how intense and exhausting it was,” wrote Jeremy Bailenson, a Stanford University professor, in a piece by Microsoft Research (pcpro.link/316fatigue) that examined why people found online meetings so much more tiring than the real thing.
On the surface, this doesn’t make sense. In important meetings, we need to be on top form: we need to judge how, when and with whom to interact; think on our feet; and simply be alive to all the messages, verbal and physical, being transmitted. The adrenaline that carries us through such meetings quickly dissipates once they end, leaving us drained.
You’d think that online meetings would be more relaxed affairs. You’d be wrong. “It is a lot more tiring,” said Professor Paul Lee, co-director of research…
You're reading a preview of
PC Pro (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 2021