Zoom: The Brain Drain

Executive Push for In-Person Meetings Gains Support Scientists Discover Zoom Calls Lack Brain-Stimulating Effects

Scientists find that Zoom calls are an ‘impoverished’ system compared to in-person meetings, supporting CEOs who want employees to return to the office.

Imagine engaging in a conversation where your brain is on fire with electrical activity, sparking ideas and connections. This is the norm when people interact in person, whether it’s through lively discussions or animated debates. But what about Zoom?

According to researchers at Yale University, the faces on our screens fail to light up our brains in the same electrifying way. In a study published in the journal Imaging Neuroscience, they meticulously recorded neural response signals of pairs speaking face-to-face versus on Zoom. The results were eyebrow-raising, literally.

When people were engaged in conversations in person, their brains lit up like fireworks. Increased brain activity was observed, from extended moments of focused gazes to wider pupil diameters, indicating heightened engagement. However, when the same conversations took place over video calls, the brain activity fizzled out like a damp firework.

“Zoom appears to be an impoverished social communication system relative to in-person conditions,” says Joy Hirsch, professor of comparative medicine and neuroscience at Yale and lead author of the study. The dynamic and natural social interactions that occur spontaneously during face-to-face encounters are somehow lost in the digital realm.

Live, face-to-face interactions are essential for our natural social behaviors and trump the online experience, at least for now. “Online representations of faces, at least with current technology, do not have the same ‘privileged access’ to our brain’s social neural circuitry as the real thing,” adds Hirsch.

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Now, this isn’t the first time Zoom has been accused of stifling creativity. Researchers at Columbia University found that brainstorming sessions conducted in person yield more ideas and more creative ones compared to their virtual counterparts. It’s as if the creative juices flow more freely when people are physically present.

Unsurprisingly, leaders have been blaming “Zoom fatigue” for their return-to-work mandates. Workers may say they can be just as effective from home, but CEOs aren’t buying it. For instance, Roblox, the $19 billion gaming giant, recently demanded that staff work at the company’s physical office in California at least three days a week. CEO David Baszucki confessed to being initially impressed with remote work, but soon realized that learning, innovation, and company culture were being lost through a screen.

“For many of us, ‘Zoom fatigue’ is real,” Baszucki wrote in a memo to all staff. “A three-hour Group Review in person is much less exhausting than over video, and brainstorming sessions are more fluid and creative.”

Even Zoom itself has fallen victim to Zoom fatigue. The company now asks its own workers to come into the office at least two days a week to reap the benefits of in-person collaboration. After all, as Drew Smith, Zoom’s director of government relations for the U.K. & Ireland, aptly put it, “The power of in-person collaboration will always be there.”

So, while technology has bridged many gaps in our lives, it seems that when it comes to stimulating our brains and fostering true human connection, the virtual world still has some catching up to do.

And there you have it! What are your thoughts on the brain-draining effects of Zoom? Have you experienced Zoom fatigue firsthand? Let me know in the comments below!