Excuse me professor, you’re on mute – a qualitative exploration of experiences of video conferencing and zoom fatigue in university students

ABSTRACT

Background

Despite the great feasibility of video conferencing platforms, concerns regarding Zoom fatigue, the exhaustion experienced after prolonged virtual meetings, arise. Although often examined from a quantitative standpoint, there remains a significant lack of qualitative exploration of Zoom fatigue.

Objective

This study aimed to explore Indian university students’ qualitative experiences with synchronous classes and zoom fatigue.

Method

Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to analyze in-depth interviews of 24 university students (age  = 20.38 ± 1.74, 15 females) enrolled in synchronous courses, i.e. online courses attended by students at the same time they are delivered.

Results

Nine primary themes and ten sub-themes were identified by study participants for zoom-delivered courses: (i) beyond screen time; (ii) physical issues; (iii) anxiety; (iv) cognitive difficulties (difficulty in sustaining attention and remembering, multi-tasking, and distraction); (v) experiencing awkwardness (turn-taking and interruption, eye-contact, self-consciousness, and home environment); (vi) technological barriers and discomforts; (vii) lack of sympathy from instructors and administration (regarding self and family’s health and regarding technical glitches); (viii) mixed feelings toward instructors (ineffective teaching pedagogy and gratitude and admiration for instructors); and (ix) feeling gratitude.

Conclusion

Participants in this study were generally fatigued and dissatisfied with the experience of zoom-delivered classes. Addressing factors contributing to zoom fatigue can ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of synchronous learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Zoom fatigue
• mental health
• thematic analysis
• technological barriers
• cognitive effects

LIST OF ACRONYMS:

• DASS, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale
• PG, Postgraduate
• RERB, Research Ethics and Review Board
• STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering, and mathematics
• SES, Socioeconomic status
• TA, Thematic Analysis
• UG, Undergraduate

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article will operationally use videoconferencing fatigue and zoom fatigue interchangeably, as zoom fatigue has been synonymous with videoconferencing fatigue due to the popularity of zoom.

2 Dadi is referred to as paternal grandmother in Hindi language.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karishma Godara

Karishma Godara is an Assistant Professor at the Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling, O.P. Jindal Global University. Her research interests include cyberpsychology, addiction medicine, and violence against women.

Nisha Phakey

Nisha Phakey is an Assistant Professor at the Jindal School of Psychology and Counselling, O.P. Jindal Global University. Her areas of interest encompass psychometrics, paediatric psychology, social cognition, and neuropsychology.

Krishan Kumar Pandey

Krishan Kumar Pandey is the Dean of the Office of Doctoral Studies and a Professor in decision sciences at the Jindal Global Business School, O.P. Jindal Global University. His research interests include data mining, predictive analytics, energy and environment, business analytics, risk analysis, knowledge management.