Rattankun Thongbun/iStock
By SASHA PEZENIK, ABC News
(NEW YORK) Peering over the brim of our masks or into the glow of group Zoom chats, we have watched the COVID-19 pandemic upend our world, and how we relate to it.
After having spent more than a year covering our faces and staying 6 feet apart from others, the way we converse and behave has had to change to fit our new reality.
Experts probing the lasting impacts of this era have found shifting structures in our social interaction, empathy and self-perception: COVID-19 has altered the alchemy of our human element.
“Our masks and distance provide us safety, but there’s a cost, and the cost is conversational closeness,” Dr. Paul Ekman, a renowned psychologist who pioneered the study of emotions and facial expressions, told ABC News.
How a year of wearing masks and talking on Zoom has changed us go.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from go.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Four reasons you re tired of Zoom calls - and how to fix it
Paulina Firozi and Allyson Chiu
Washington Post
Jeremy Bailenson was exhausted. It was a Friday in late March and he had just finished his first full week working from home during the pandemic - nine-hour days spent glued to a laptop in a spare bedroom of his house.
Then, a reporter asked him to jump on another video call for an interview. He thought to himself: Why does this need to happen on video?
It s been nearly a year since he first experienced that video call-induced exhaustion - an early glimpse of what millions of others may have faced since beginning to work remotely. Now, he s published a paper outlining why video chats may exact such a mental toll, and suggesting how you can reduce fatigue.
How Zoom changes the way we see ourselves thelily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thelily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.