The Sociomateriality of Zoom Fatigue

• In Event: Technology and the Attention Economy: Postphenomenological Studies

Abstract

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, videoconferencing tools have become an essential part of our everyday lives as they have allowed us to keep in touch in a time of social distancing. Many people have found virtual interactions to be surprisingly exhausting, however. This has given rise to the novel concept of Zoom fatigue. The purpose of the present paper is to explore the dynamics that give rise to this peculiar phenomenon. The paper first discusses current brain-focused accounts of Zoom fatigue and argues that we should move toward a more embodied approach to social interaction. Taking departure in a postphenomenological framework, it then sets out to explore how videoconferencing technologies mediate our social interactions, or what postphenomenologists would schematically depict as ‘human-technology-human relations’. In this domain, the paper proceeds to present a preliminary list of five technologically mediated dynamics that may be thought to cause Zoom fatigue: Awkward turn-taking, inhibited spontaneity, restricted motility, lack of eye contact, and increased self-awareness. It is argued that these dynamics should make us rethink and perhaps even temper our collective expectations regarding the ‘hybrid’ future of remote working and learning.

Author

• Jesper Aagaard, Aarhus University