Zoom Fatigue Is Real: Students Share Their Experiences Of Online Classes

If you’re finding yourself to be more exhausted at the end of your workday than you used to be, you’re not alone. It’s a dread many of us feel now—another class, another meeting, another session on a video platform and the exhaustion that comes with it. This so-called 'Zoom fatigue' that has afflicted many of us during this pandemic crisis. The term refers to the mental exhaustion associated with online video conferencing. The exhaustion is a result of an array of physical and psychological factors.

For students who are stuck with having to attend online classes, the pain is real. Zoom has suddenly become part of the lexicon of their lives. They merely don’t have to sit in the classes, but listen, make notes, learn new theories/theorems and also prepare those materials for the upcoming assessments. To face the baffling situation that the pandemic has erstwhile created is already tough enough for young students. Added with the zoom fatigue that they have to constantly struggle against each day, the conditions have become even more distressing. Here, a few students share their first-hand experiences of Zoom fatigue with SheThePeople. 

Also Read: Five Reasons Why Zoom Meetings Are So Exhausting

Students Share Their Experiences Of Online Classes And Zoom Fatigue

Aishi Sharma, a student who has taken a drop year to prepare for engineering entrances, talks about her online coaching classes, “I took a drop believing that soon this pandemic will be over and I'll be able to go back to my coaching classes where they will be able to provide me with the best trainings for my upcoming examinations. But now that dream seems like a faraway reality. I have online classes the entire day. It's very tiring and every night my head throbs like anything. I am not able to participate much since my connectivity isn’t that great. On top of that, I find it really hard to concentrate on a single voice for that long, especially when the teacher is explaining formulas. Learning mathematical theorems online is such a pain! Both my eyesight and my mind have increasingly been losing focus with each passing day.”

Shreya, a second-year student from St. Xavier’s Kolkata shared: “My eyes are exhausted every single day after my zoom classes. I have started using eye drops before bed in order to relax them at night as well as to get ready for the next day.”

Aditi Rai, an undergraduate student from Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi feels similarly, “It’s exhausting having to pay attention in an online class, and sometimes I have to force myself to concentrate, which is a struggle. I have also developed acute back pain since I am sitting in front of my laptop for 4-6 hours straight” She added, “Five months in, I am still facing trouble adapting to this new system.”

The Weariness Is Real

Pallabi Dutta, a second-year political science student from Delhi University says, “Zoom is tiring sometimes, especially when you don’t have wifi or a good network connection. It is really exhausting when during important meetings you are suddenly disconnected from the meeting due to poor network connection and miss out on important things in between. It is stressful when despite trying a lot of times you are not able to connect again. Another problem is when people forget to mute their microphones, it gets really confusing as to who is speaking what.”

Maia Bedi, a student from Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai shares: “It’s much harder to care about calculus and Homer through a screen that doesn’t seem to mute itself, and the only thing you want is to nap.”

Also Read: Seven Things I Wish My Parents Had Told Me As A Teenager

As helpful as these video-conferencing apps have been during this pandemic, there’s no doubt that they have created their own share of worries as well. And because online classes are here to stay, looks like we need to find immediate relief methods to help students combat zoom fatigue.