Video conferencing, video calls, digital meetings, calls or as you prefer to call them, they are nothing new, exthey have been there for quite a few yearsand began to gain some popularity with the advent of the first web cameras and, of course, an Internet connection with enough bandwidth and latency to conduct this type of digital meeting in a reasonably fluid manner.

However, if there is a point that has meant before and after the proliferation of video conferencing in both professional and personal settings, without a doubt It started to be written at the beginning of 2020. when we found ourselves locked in our homes practically every day, without the possibility of meeting our loved ones (family, friends, etc.) in person, and many companies had to quickly implement teleworking. Suddenly and violently, practically all of us became regular users of this communication system.

Since then, and more and more with the passage of time, we meet him more and more often people who are especially tired after several video conferencesmuch more than one would expect for an activity that, while it involves mental work, is physically a very relaxing activity because in the vast majority of situations it is done comfortably while sitting.

So the question arises whether for some reason this type of communication somehow affects our vital functions. And although this may seem surprising, it seems so, because according to a study published in Nature, more specifically in Scientific Report, video conferencing fatigue is real and measurable using electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG). This study was conducted by Austrian researchers, and yes, we are talking about a small-scale test, as it was conducted with a total of 35 university students.

According to the researchers, until now all reports of this video conferencing effect have been based solely on self-reports by the people who experienced them, so This test represents an interesting first step in obtaining non-subjective dataalthough these were also taken into account when drawing conclusions about the results.

The methodology of the test was simple: it was performed video conference attended by 35 students the above and, as a control group, other people witnessing the same content live. Both groups were measured for the aforementioned constants and were also given cognitive attention tasks and asked to self-report their mood states.

The result could not be more convincing. When self-reported, live participants felt more energized, happier and more active, and less tired and sleepy than videoconference participants, and measurements supported these perceptions, with electroencephalograms indicating greater brain activity and electrocardiograms also indicating greater “workload” for those who participated remotely.

The researchers themselves point out this in the report we are facing a small experiment and that it does not take into account other externalities that may affect both videoconferencing and face-to-face meetings (such as the stress of travel that can be avoided with video calls) and recommends further research in this regard. However, it seems like an interesting first approximation and confirms that this fatigue is more than a subjective perception.