Scientists explain video-conferencing fatigue

Scientists explain video-conferencing fatigue  

Watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H86vhoIaHjg

A new study from Stanford University has investigated the effects on our health of extended spells of video-conferencing. Researcher and communications expert Jeremy Bailenson dubbed the phenomenon "Zoom fatigue," but acknowledged the condition is not restricted to just that platform. In the past year, most of us have spent extended periods of time online using an array of video-conferencing platforms. The coronavirus pandemic has meant tools like Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and Google Hangouts have been the only way we have been able to see and chat to loved ones. Many companies have relied heavily on video-conferencing for meetings, and educators have used them to teach their lessons online.

Mr Bailenson outlined several factors that make video-conferencing so fatigue-inducing. He said it is not just tiredness and eye-strain from staring at a computer screen for hours and hours. It is also brought about by "cognitive overload" and feeling pressure to be perpetually switched on. We constantly feel we need to be in touch with friends or available for bosses, customers or students. Bailenson cautioned this leads to burnout and stress and can heighten your chance of developing moderate to severe depression. He said this anxiety can adversely affect your self-confidence. This is because of the large number of faces staring at you in meetings. Bailenson likens this to the stresses of public speaking.


3. FACE-TO-FACE: Students A strongly believe face-to-face is always better than video-conferencing; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
4. ONLINE HEALTH: How does spending time online affect our health? What solutions are there to combat this? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

 

Problems

Solutions

Anxiety

 

 

Eyes

 

 

Back

 

 

Fitness

 

 

Weight

 

 

Addiction

 

 

5. VIDEO: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "video". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
6. WEBSITES: Rank these with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

  • Zoom
  • Skype
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google Hangouts
  • Instagram
  • Messenger
  • YouTube

 

Vocabulary

    Paragraph 1

      1.

extended

a.

A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area.

      2.

spell

b.

Limited in extent, number, scope, or action.

      3.

expert

c.

Lasting longer than is usual or expected.

      4.

dubbed

d.

A short period of time.

      5.

phenomenon

e.

Gave an unofficial name or nickname to someone or something.

      6.

restricted

f.

A remarkable person, thing, or event.

      7.

array

g.

A range of a particular type of thing.

    Paragraph 2

      8.

fatigue

h.

Physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress.

      9.

cognitive

i.

Extreme tiredness resulting from mental or physical exertion or illness.

      10.

overload

j.

In a way that never ends or changes; constantly.

      11.

perpetually

k.

Average in amount, intensity, quality, or degree.

      12.

burnout

l.

Relating to the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding.

      13.

moderate

m.

In a way that prevents success or development; harmfully or unfavorably.

      14.

adversely

n.

Giving too much of something, typically something undesirable, to someone

 

Before reading / listening

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).

  1. Oxford University conducted a study on video-conferencing.     T / F
  2. A researcher called tiredness while online "Zoom fatigue".     T / F
  3. The article says all of us have spent a long time online in the past year.  T / F
  4. Educators said they resent having to use video-conferencing to teach.     T / F
  5. The researcher outlined seven reasons why video-conferencing is bad.     T / F
  6. The researcher said fatigue can come because of cognitive overload.     T / F
  7. The researcher said people feel pressure to be constantly online.     T / F
  8. The researcher likened video-conferencing to speaking in public.     T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

  1. investigated
  2. spells
  3. phenomenon
  4. array
  5. relied
  6. outlined
  7. perpetually
  8. cautioned
  9. severe
  10. staring
  1. defined
  2. happening
  3. acute
  4. always
  5. examined
  6. warned
  7. range
  8. gazing
  9. periods of time
  10. depended

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

  1. extended spells
  2. dubbed the phenomenon
  3. the condition is not restricted
  4. tools
  5. relied heavily
  6. fatigue-
  7. It is also brought about by
  8. we need to be in
  9. moderate to
  10. this anxiety can adversely affect
  1. severe depression
  2. on video-conferencing
  3. inducing
  4. to just that platform
  5. your self-confidence
  6. of video-conferencing
  7. touch with friends
  8. "cognitive overload"
  9. "Zoom fatigue"
  10. like Zoom

Gap fill

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

expert
extended
way
effects
platform
heavily
fatigue
platforms

A new study from Stanford University has investigated the (1) _____________________ on our health of extended spells of video-conferencing. Researcher and communications (2) _____________________ Jeremy Bailenson dubbed the phenomenon "Zoom (3) _____________________," but acknowledged the condition is not restricted to just that (4) _____________________. In the past year, most of us have spent (5) _____________________ periods of time online using an array of video-conferencing (6) _____________________. The coronavirus pandemic has meant tools like Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and Google Hangouts have been the only (7) _____________________ we have been able to see and chat to loved ones. Many companies have relied (8) _____________________ on video-conferencing for meetings, and educators have used them to teach their lessons online.

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

burnout
staring
outlined
anxiety
constantly
heighten
staring
cognitive

Mr Bailenson (9) _____________________ several factors that make video-conferencing so fatigue-inducing. He said it is not just tiredness and eye-strain from (10) _____________________ at a computer screen for hours and hours. It is also brought about by "(11) _____________________ overload" and feeling pressure to be perpetually switched on. We (12) _____________________ feel we need to be in touch with friends or available for bosses, customers or students. Bailenson cautioned this leads to (13) _____________________ and stress and can (14) _____________________ your chance of developing moderate to severe depression. He said this (15) _____________________ can adversely affect your self-confidence. This is because of the large number of faces (16) _____________________ at you in meetings. Bailenson likens this to the stresses of public speaking.

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A new study from Stanford University has investigated (1) ____________________ our health of (2) ____________________ video-conferencing. Researcher and communications expert Jeremy Bailenson dubbed the phenomenon (3) ____________________ acknowledged the condition is not restricted to just that platform. In the past year, most of us have spent (4) ____________________ time online using an array of video-conferencing platforms. The coronavirus pandemic has meant tools like Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and Google Hangouts have been (5) ____________________ we have been able to see and chat to loved ones. Many companies have (6) ____________________ video-conferencing for meetings, and educators have used them to teach their lessons online.

Mr Bailenson (7) ____________________ that make video-conferencing so fatigue-inducing. He said it is not just tiredness and eye-strain from staring at a computer (8) ____________________ and hours. It is also brought about by "cognitive overload" and (9) ____________________ be perpetually switched on. We constantly feel we need to be in touch with friends or (10) ____________________, customers or students. Bailenson cautioned this leads to burnout and stress and can heighten your chance of developing (11) ____________________ depression. He said this anxiety can adversely affect your self-confidence. This is because of the large number of (12) ____________________ you in meetings. Bailenson likens this to the stresses of public speaking.

Comprehension questions

  1. At what university does the researcher who did the research work?
  2. What did the researcher dub a phenomenon?
  3. Where did the researcher say we have spent extended periods of time?
  4. Who does the article say we have chatted to using online tools?
  5. Who has relied heavily on video-conferencing?
  6. How many factors did the researcher outline?
  7. What brings about fatigue besides tiredness and eye-strain?
  8. What does the article say we are under perpetual pressure to do?
  9. What does burnout and stress heighten the chances of developing?
  10. What did the researcher liken video-conferencing to?

Role play

Role  A – Zoom
You think Zoom is the best website. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their websites. Also, tell the others which is the least useful of these (and why): Skype, YouTube or Twitter.

Role  B – Skype
You think Skype is the best website. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their websites. Also, tell the others which is the least useful of these (and why): Zoom, YouTube or Twitter.

Role  C – YouTube
You think YouTube is the best website. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their websites. Also, tell the others which is the least useful of these (and why): Skype, Zoom or Twitter.

Role  D – Twitter
You think Twitter is the best website. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their websites. Also, tell the others which is the least useful of these (and why): Skype, YouTube or Zoom.

Discussion - Video-conferencing

  1. What do you think of video-conferencing?
  2. How do you think video-conferencing affects our health?
  3. How much video-conferencing have you done in the past year?
  4. What are the best video-conferencing platforms?
  5. What do you think of 'Zoom fatigue'?
  6. What do you think of school lessons being online?
  7. What would the pandemic be like without video-conferencing?
  8. What would companies do without video-conferencing?
  1. What do you think of when you hear the word 'fatigue'?
  2. What do you think about what you read?
  3. What do you do about eye-strain?
  4. What do you know about 'cognitive overload'?
  5. Do you feel you always have to be online?
  6. How could being online make you depressed?
  7. What video-conferencing calls have you made recently?
  8. What do you think of public speaking?
  9. What questions would you like to ask the researcher?

Language — Cloze (Gap-fill)

A new study from Stanford University has investigated the (1) ____ on our health of extended spells of video-conferencing. Researcher and communications expert Jeremy Bailenson (2) ____ the phenomenon "Zoom fatigue," but acknowledged the condition is not (3) ____ to just that platform. In the past year, most of us have spent extended periods of time online using an array of video-conferencing platforms. The coronavirus pandemic has (4) ____ tools like Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and Google Hangouts have been the only way we have been able to see and chat to (5) ____ ones. Many companies have relied heavily (6) ____ video-conferencing for meetings, and educators have used them to teach their lessons online.

Mr Bailenson (7) ____ several factors that make video-conferencing so fatigue-inducing. He said it is not just tiredness and eye-(8) ____ from staring at a computer screen for hours and hours. It is also brought about by "cognitive overload" and feeling pressure to be (9) ____ switched on. We constantly feel we need to be in touch with friends or available for bosses, customers or students. Bailenson cautioned this leads to burnout and stress and can (10) ____ your chance of developing moderate to (11) ____ depression. He said this anxiety can adversely affect your self-confidence. This is because of the large number of faces (12) ____ at you in meetings. Bailenson likens this to the stresses of public speaking.

Which of these words go in the above text?

  1. (a)     infects     (b)     affects     (c)     effects     (d)     reflects    
  2. (a)     dubbed     (b)     daubed     (c)     dabbled     (d)     dibbed    
  3. (a)     restricted     (b)     restriction     (c)     restricts     (d)     restrict    
  4. (a)     meant     (b)     mean     (c)     meaning     (d)     means    
  5. (a)     loves     (b)     loved     (c)     loving     (d)     lover    
  6. (a)     in     (b)     at     (c)     to     (d)     on    
  7. (a)     in-lined     (b)     aligned     (c)     outlined     (d)     lined    
  8. (a)     stem     (b)     stain     (c)     steam     (d)     strain    
  9. (a)     perpetually     (b)     perpetual     (c)     perpetrate     (d)     perpetuity    
  10. (a)     higher     (b)     heighten     (c)     heathen     (d)     heather    
  11. (a)     severs     (b)     severe     (c)     sever     (d)     several    
  12. (a)     starring     (b)     starry     (c)     staring     (d)     storing

Spelling

Paragraph 1

  1. tmsncoioncaumi expert
  2. not csitdertre to just that platform
  3. neeedxtd periods of time
  4. an rayra of video-conferencing
  5. ielred heavily on video-conferencing
  6. ueroascdt have used them

Paragraph 2

  1. aftgieu-inducing
  2. brought about by noigevtci overload
  3. be uplepretlya switched on
  4. developing edaotemr to severe depression
  5. this aeitnxy
  6. erlvsyaed affect your self-confidence

 


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