We automatically take in information such as, is the person fidgeting? Predominantly relying on verbal information to infer emotions is tiring. That dissonance, which causes people to have conflicting feelings, is exhausting.Īlso, in face-to-face meetings we rely heavily on non-verbal cues to make emotional judgements, such as assessing whether a statement is credible. Our minds are together when our bodies feel we’re not. Paying more attention to these consumes a lot of energy. In a face-to-face meeting we process these cues largely automatically, and can still listen to the speaker at the same time.īut on a video chat, we need to work harder to process non-verbal cues. Our feelings and attitudes are largely conveyed by non-verbal signals such as facial expressions, the tone and pitch of the voice, gestures, posture, and the distance between the communicators. We miss out on a lot of non-verbal communication Meeting online increases our cognitive load because several of its features take up a lot of conscious capacity.ġ. In contrast, we can process much more information unconsciously, as we do with body language. Our brains can only do so many things consciously at once, because we have limited working memory. Sensitive topics are often canvassed, requiring us to notice subtleties and display empathy. Rituals provide comfort, put us at ease, and are essential in building and maintaining rapport.įace to face meetings are also important mechanisms for the communication of attitudes and feelings among business partners and colleagues.Įmotions precede and follow all our behaviours, and influence management decision-making. Meetings in person are not only about the exchange of knowledge, they are also important rituals in the office.

People feel like they have to make more emotional effort to appear interested, and in the absence of many non-verbal cues, the intense focus on words and sustained eye contact is exhausting. So why are online meetings more tiring than face-to-face ones? Never mind that we feel we should fix our iso-hair (COVID mullet anyone?), put on makeup, or get out of our pyjamas. Having giant heads staring at us up close for long periods can be off-putting for a lot of us. The effects of this have taken us by surprise. This article originally appeared on The Conversation.įor many of us, working from home during COVID-19 has meant we are spending a lot of time on video meeting applications like Zoom. By Dr Libby Sander, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Bond University, and Dr Oliver Baumann, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Bond University.

Zoom meetings