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Webinar fatigue: fallout of COVID-19

Webinar fatigue: fallout of COVID-19 Sharma et al. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association (2021) 96:9 Journal of the Egyptian https://doi.org/10.1186/s42506-021-00069-y Public Health Association LETTER TO THE EDITOR Open Access 1* 2 3 4 5 Manoj Kumar Sharma , Shweta Sunil , Nitin Anand , Senthil Amudhan and Sundarnag Ganjekar Dear Editor, the sense of dissatisfaction with the information, distress Webinar fatigue is a new phenomenon that has emerged resulting from loss of time in an unproductive task, due to the COVID-19 lockdown where there is an in- screen-fatigue, physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, creased use of online/web meetings or other modalities and ultimately digital burnout [1, 2]. The continual experi- for work, academics, and learning new skills in leisure ence of distressing symptoms further leads to dissatisfac- time. This change has led to increased environmental de- tion with work, irritability, lowered productivity, fatigue, mands associated with near-constant elevated levels of negativity, cynicism, and ultimately burnout [3, 4]. The physiological activation, heightened attention, and in- pathway to digital fatigue and burnout appears to be accel- creased pressure to respond and perform remotely with erated by excessive use of digital devices for webinars in higher efficiency, subjective sense of restlessness, anxiety, the times of COVID-19 lockdown. The 11th revision of and inability to relax. Participation in webinars involves the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) in- maintaining eye-contact, sustained attention, maintaining cludes burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather an upright body posture, controlling one’sfacial expres- than a medical condition [5]. This highlights the crucial sions to appear consistently engaged for extended periods role of workplaces in mitigating webinar fatigue. of time. The webinars and web-based meetings require greater attention towards the verbal and non-verbal re- 1 Conclusions sponses from all participants in comparison to in-person In the current scenario, wherein the evidence-based meetings. At times, the minimal technical delays in receiv- treatment for COVID-19 appears at least many months ing responses from others are negatively perceived. It away, a systematic and multifaceted approach is required makes the receiver perceive the individual on the other to mitigate the webinar fatigue and burnout. Webinar end as less focused, less courteous, and less friendly. These hosts should be trained in adopting best practices, pro- changes in work requirements during the COVID-19 has moting group interactions and breaking longer content led to the physical distress/digital fatigue in the form of while the end-users should be educated to embrace eye strain, pain in the neck, back and shoulders, increased digital hygiene as a modality to overcome the risk of sensitivity to light, and decreased and disturbed sleep. webinar fatigue and burnout. Awareness about webinar Webinar fatigue is now becoming fairly common among fatigue and the importance of “less is more” and “quality 75% of people who use two or more gadgets simultan- rather than frequency” with regard to webinars should eously, and among 53% of people who use one gadget at a be campaigned massively. There is a need for webinar time [1]. fatigue risk management system that includes education, Besides, it is often difficult to create a distraction-free policies, practices, and environmental changes for pre- space in one’s home for extended periods of 8 to 10 h vention, early diagnosis, and management. and sometimes for the whole day. Attending webinars Abbreviations from home also requires an increased self-control to stay ICD-11: International Classification of Diseases-11; COVID-19: Coronavirus focused and not get distracted by events within the disease; SARS-CoV-2: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 home setting. These accommodations and continuous Acknowledgements participation in the webinars from home often add to None * Correspondence: shutclinic@gmail.com Authors’ contributions Department of Clinical Psychology, SHUT clinic (Service for Healthy Use of MKS conceptualized the manuscript. MKS and SS prepared the first draft. NA, Technology), NIMHANS Centre for Well Being, National Institute of Mental SA, and SG edited the subsequent version and provided new ideas to be Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India incorporated into the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the Full list of author information is available at the end of the article final manuscript. © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Sharma et al. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association (2021) 96:9 Page 2 of 2 Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/ or publication of this article. Availability of data and materials Not applicable Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable Consent for publication Not applicable Competing interests The authors declare that there are no competing interests. Author details Department of Clinical Psychology, SHUT clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology), NIMHANS Centre for Well Being, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Psychology, CMR University, CMR Group of Institutions, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India. Received: 22 January 2021 Accepted: 17 March 2021 References 1. Fosslien L, Duffy MW. How to Combat Zoom Fatigue. [cited September 03, 2020], Available from: https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-combat-zoom-fatigue 2. Sen S. In race to upskill, millennials face webinar fatigue. [Cited September 03, 2020] Available from: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/in-race-to- upskill-millennials-face-webinar-fatigue-11589971932948.html. 3. Sharma MK, Anand N, Ahuja S, Thakur PC, Mondal I, Singh P, et al. Digital burnout: COVID-19 lockdown mediates excessive technology use stress. World Soc Psychiatry. 2020;2:171–2. 4. Zis P, Artemiadis A, Bargiotas P, Nteveros A, Hadjigeorgiou GM. Medical studies during the COVID-19 pandemic: the impact of digital learning on medical students’ burnout and mental health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(1):349. 5. WHO. Burn-out: an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. Geneva: WHO; 2019: May 28 [cited 2020 June 03]. https://www. who.int/2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/ burn-out/en/. Publisher’sNote Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association Springer Journals

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Springer Journals
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Copyright © The Author(s) 2021
eISSN
2090-262X
DOI
10.1186/s42506-021-00069-y
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Abstract

Sharma et al. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association (2021) 96:9 Journal of the Egyptian https://doi.org/10.1186/s42506-021-00069-y Public Health Association LETTER TO THE EDITOR Open Access 1* 2 3 4 5 Manoj Kumar Sharma , Shweta Sunil , Nitin Anand , Senthil Amudhan and Sundarnag Ganjekar Dear Editor, the sense of dissatisfaction with the information, distress Webinar fatigue is a new phenomenon that has emerged resulting from loss of time in an unproductive task, due to the COVID-19 lockdown where there is an in- screen-fatigue, physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, creased use of online/web meetings or other modalities and ultimately digital burnout [1, 2]. The continual experi- for work, academics, and learning new skills in leisure ence of distressing symptoms further leads to dissatisfac- time. This change has led to increased environmental de- tion with work, irritability, lowered productivity, fatigue, mands associated with near-constant elevated levels of negativity, cynicism, and ultimately burnout [3, 4]. The physiological activation, heightened attention, and in- pathway to digital fatigue and burnout appears to be accel- creased pressure to respond and perform remotely with erated by excessive use of digital devices for webinars in higher efficiency, subjective sense of restlessness, anxiety, the times of COVID-19 lockdown. The 11th revision of and inability to relax. Participation in webinars involves the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) in- maintaining eye-contact, sustained attention, maintaining cludes burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather an upright body posture, controlling one’sfacial expres- than a medical condition [5]. This highlights the crucial sions to appear consistently engaged for extended periods role of workplaces in mitigating webinar fatigue. of time. The webinars and web-based meetings require greater attention towards the verbal and non-verbal re- 1 Conclusions sponses from all participants in comparison to in-person In the current scenario, wherein the evidence-based meetings. At times, the minimal technical delays in receiv- treatment for COVID-19 appears at least many months ing responses from others are negatively perceived. It away, a systematic and multifaceted approach is required makes the receiver perceive the individual on the other to mitigate the webinar fatigue and burnout. Webinar end as less focused, less courteous, and less friendly. These hosts should be trained in adopting best practices, pro- changes in work requirements during the COVID-19 has moting group interactions and breaking longer content led to the physical distress/digital fatigue in the form of while the end-users should be educated to embrace eye strain, pain in the neck, back and shoulders, increased digital hygiene as a modality to overcome the risk of sensitivity to light, and decreased and disturbed sleep. webinar fatigue and burnout. Awareness about webinar Webinar fatigue is now becoming fairly common among fatigue and the importance of “less is more” and “quality 75% of people who use two or more gadgets simultan- rather than frequency” with regard to webinars should eously, and among 53% of people who use one gadget at a be campaigned massively. There is a need for webinar time [1]. fatigue risk management system that includes education, Besides, it is often difficult to create a distraction-free policies, practices, and environmental changes for pre- space in one’s home for extended periods of 8 to 10 h vention, early diagnosis, and management. and sometimes for the whole day. Attending webinars Abbreviations from home also requires an increased self-control to stay ICD-11: International Classification of Diseases-11; COVID-19: Coronavirus focused and not get distracted by events within the disease; SARS-CoV-2: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 home setting. These accommodations and continuous Acknowledgements participation in the webinars from home often add to None * Correspondence: shutclinic@gmail.com Authors’ contributions Department of Clinical Psychology, SHUT clinic (Service for Healthy Use of MKS conceptualized the manuscript. MKS and SS prepared the first draft. NA, Technology), NIMHANS Centre for Well Being, National Institute of Mental SA, and SG edited the subsequent version and provided new ideas to be Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India incorporated into the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the Full list of author information is available at the end of the article final manuscript. © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Sharma et al. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association (2021) 96:9 Page 2 of 2 Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/ or publication of this article. Availability of data and materials Not applicable Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable Consent for publication Not applicable Competing interests The authors declare that there are no competing interests. Author details Department of Clinical Psychology, SHUT clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology), NIMHANS Centre for Well Being, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Psychology, CMR University, CMR Group of Institutions, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Epidemiology, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560029, India. Received: 22 January 2021 Accepted: 17 March 2021 References 1. Fosslien L, Duffy MW. How to Combat Zoom Fatigue. [cited September 03, 2020], Available from: https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-combat-zoom-fatigue 2. Sen S. In race to upskill, millennials face webinar fatigue. [Cited September 03, 2020] Available from: https://www.livemint.com/news/india/in-race-to- upskill-millennials-face-webinar-fatigue-11589971932948.html. 3. Sharma MK, Anand N, Ahuja S, Thakur PC, Mondal I, Singh P, et al. Digital burnout: COVID-19 lockdown mediates excessive technology use stress. World Soc Psychiatry. 2020;2:171–2. 4. Zis P, Artemiadis A, Bargiotas P, Nteveros A, Hadjigeorgiou GM. Medical studies during the COVID-19 pandemic: the impact of digital learning on medical students’ burnout and mental health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(1):349. 5. WHO. Burn-out: an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. Geneva: WHO; 2019: May 28 [cited 2020 June 03]. https://www. who.int/2020. Available from: https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/ burn-out/en/. Publisher’sNote Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Journal of the Egyptian Public Health AssociationSpringer Journals

Published: Apr 16, 2021

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