05/19/2020

Daily Buzz: Adapt Your Work Habits to Overcome Screen Fatigue

More breaks and less on-screen noise are among the solutions

Many people are now doing almost all work and communication through a computer screen. For some, this comes with a consequence: screen fatigue.

“I was so excited to be able to work from home,” said Nonprofit Hub’s Olivia Layne. “But now that we’re a few months into ‘the new normal,’ I’m getting so tired of seeing people through lenses, and staring at screens all day and night is making my eyes sting.”

Layne said we need to change our work habits to keep screen fatigue at bay. For one, give yourself more breaks. In an office setting, back-to-back meetings might be acceptable, but that should not carry over into a remote work setting where video calls are the norm.

“In between meetings [at the office], you could chat with coworkers casually, and your brain would have a break during your commute," Layne said. "Now that you don’t have to go anywhere for your next meeting, they get scheduled closer together, without a change of pace to break them up."

To combat this, give yourself at least 10 to 15 minutes between meetings and projects to decompress. You can also reduce your on-screen stimuli.

“In video calls, you can see everyone at once, including yourself," Layne said. "We’re not used to seeing this much stimuli in a conversation, and we’re especially not used to seeing ourselves, so it can be overwhelming and distracting.”

During these calls, minimize other windows and change your videoconferencing layout to show only the person talking.

Please select this link to read the original article from Associations Now.