The pandemic brings us a phenomenon called Zoom

While globally, numerous businesses are shutting their doors permanently in the midst of the sharpest economic downturn in decades, the video calling platform known as Zoom has been one of the world’s biggest business success stories of 2020. With more than 300 million users daily — compared to 10 million in December 2019 —the company’s share price increased more than 700% between March and October 2020.

Although there’s no shortage of competition in videoconferencing, Zoom has succeeded in out-performing them all. The cloud-based product offers free, 40-minute calls and can accommodate up to 100 attendees. It’s compatible with all computer devices and relatively easy to use. You don’t need to create a login or enter a password; all you have to do to join a meeting is tap a link.

Zoom has affected far more than our work and educational lives as we’re stuck at home during COVID-19. It has also become the link to our social lives, as work, family, and friends are now all present in our living spaces, further blurring the boundaries between work and home. Theatre performances, trivia nights, church services, charity events, birthday parties, music concerts, and group workouts are just some of the ways Zoom is enabling a sense of community while social distancing.

Unfortunately, all this video conferencing is leading to a malady known as “Zoom fatigue”.

If you find yourself feeling burnout associated with overuse of virtual communication, you’re not alone.

It isn’t only the sheer number of meetings and interactions, but the fact that it’s so much harder to read social cues from each other on screen than it is in person and therefore much easier to misinterpret these signals. When you’re one of many little boxes on a screen, the only way to engage is by constantly looking at the camera. This wears on the psyche, making us feel uncomfortable and exhausted. Technical issues and even millisecond audio delays in verbal responses can also lead to negative perception, causing people to feel uncomfortable and anxious.

However, the Zoom experience has not been without its lighter moments. From scene-stealing kids and pets to seeing co-workers without pants, there’s been an abundance of hilarious and embarrassing moments on record. These mishaps are typically the result of technical difficulties, people simply forgetting they’re on camera, or neglecting to mute their microphones. Who could ever forget that their boss appeared as a potato through an entire meeting or that they saw a co-worker go to the bathroom during a group discussion?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into 2021, some feel that the switch to working from home and using online interaction will become permanent, which leads to many questions about the future of the traditional office workplace.

By the end of April, Waterloo Region’s tech giant, Opentext had announced a plan that would have half of its global workforce continuing to work from home after the pandemic. Likewise, Shopify declared working remotely would become their new normal.

Whether you love the fact that your commute has been reduced to a few steps or hate that you no longer have one-on-one interactions with your co-workers, when you consider that pre-pandemic estimates pegged savings of roughly US$10,000 per year for each employee who works from home, you can see that it is unlikely Zoom meetings will completely disappear when the coronavirus finally does.