Design leader and co-founder of the new Palm.
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For months, we have all been locked down in quarantine, forced to adopt new ways to connect and collaborate with our colleagues. Studies have shown that Americans spend approximately 31-60 minutes on average in each meeting and hold 11 million meetings each day, which is more than 220 million meetings per year. With as much time we spend in meetings, using the right tools is critical.
I have become increasingly aware of differing virtual meeting habits between my partner, who works at a large tech company, and routines we have adopted at our company. At her company, having your video on for every call is an unspoken rule that has led to daily complaints of Zoom fatigue, not to mention the pain of having to get “shelter-ready” every morning — and a pricey investment in a photoshoot-quality ring light. At my company, video is a rarity and has been almost solely used for meetups such as our all-hands or virtual happy hours. Living day-to-day with these contrasting work-from-home habits begs the following question: Which is better — video or voice?
Before shelter-in-place orders, we had always been strong advocates of being in-person at our studio. There is a certain magic that organically occurs when every member of the team is present and engaged, just being face to face. New ideas, different perspectives and course pivots can all happen at any moment, whether in a meeting or in a chat by the "watercooler." We have been such believers in this way of working that it was rare to have an employee work from home, and when they did, we didn't really have an established mindset of remote inclusiveness — out of sight, out of mind. Like most other companies, we have had to make drastic changes to the way we collaborate virtually. Video calls have become a useful tool for recreating that human connection between colleagues, but what we have also found is that they can actually hinder creativity.
You may have watched Love is Blind, the (albeit silly) Netflix reality show where singles date from behind a wall. After watching many of them fall in love sight unseen, it proved that when you remove the visual distractions and focus on the conversation itself, you communicate with more clarity, and your imagination is free to go wild. With video, we are distracted by body language and can feel awkward or intimidated, whereas with voice only, it’s easier to drop your guard and participate. It’s akin to watching a movie versus listening to the audiobook — one prescribes what you see, whereas the other encourages your unique interpretation.
Growing up in the 1980s, I have fond memories of chatting on the phone with my friends at all hours of the night — I still remember how magical those calls felt. Nowadays when I travel, video calls have become the norm. Though it's nice to see my partner’s face, we typically get distracted by the augmented reality stickers in the app rather than actually communicating. George Bernard Shaw famously said, “The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” When we use the old-fashioned telephone, our conversations tend to be much richer, and I am more engaged in listening and processing her words rather than preoccupied with her AR bunny ears.
Today's tech workforce is mostly composed of millennials, with an average age of 29 versus the national average of 42.5 years old. Younger generations will soon be the majority of those employed in tech, and most of them will have grown up with video chat as the norm. Social platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram and video chat apps such as Zoom and FaceTime are altering the way we interact as people and fundamentally changing the human brain, especially for the younger and more malleable. Studies have shown that technology use is associated both with transient changes in mood and with long-term changes in behavior and brain function. We don't yet know how being constantly connected through video will affect the long-term development of our future generations.
As the country starts opening back up and there is a return to the workplace, I can foresee the shift to a more remote workforce in tech becoming the new normal. Companies including Square and Twitter have declared that permanent remote work is culturally acceptable, which will force us to adopt new ways of communication and collaboration. Here are three tips to temper Zoom fatigue and help you stay creative:
First, turn video calls into weekly special events. I am a firm believer in the saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder. When you use voice only for your daily meetings and save video for weekly informal gatherings, your brain will associate video calls with positivity rather than a chore. Plus, it gives you something to look forward to.
Next, start with video, and end with voice. Joining virtual meetings with video to greet your colleagues can be a fun way to kick-start the conversation. This can help build connections and break the ice. Once the small talk is over, switch to voice, and focus on the meat of the conversation.
Finally, stand up and pace. Video calls are inherently unnatural — forcing you to sit in place, staring uncomfortably at your colleagues' faces (or collection of memorabilia and family photos behind them). Being voice-only gives you the freedom to get up and walk around while on your call, which has been proven to help spark creativity and thinking.
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