Zoom meetings - exhausting!

Yes they are tiring. I love talking to friends by Zoom but don’t do more than two a day and try to put a time limit on them or they can drag on. Saying the Tesco order has arrived is always a good excuse!

We have one everyweek. It's enjoyable but nothing beats a real meet up over lunch. Then you can talk as a group or as individuals. There are 6 of us, old school friends.

Until 5 weeks ago, I was teaching for up to 8 hours a day on Zoom. Much, much more tiring than in person. I don't know why really. Online lesson planning is harder to. I'm very glad it's over.

I have a Zoom choir meeting once a week and was really surprised how much concentration is needed and how I need to wind-down afterwards.

I find it hard work not just mentally, but somehow physically too. I feel restricted because I normally use a lot of gestures when I speak and pick up on things around me to talk about. I'm not good at focusing on one thing at a time and find zoom tiresome. There is usually one person who wants to talk all the time and seems to be making a career in being the presenter!

My Zoom meetings are with groups of people caring for people with Dementia and my job is to 'keep an eye on' the attendees. In real life I find that fairly easy - reading body language etc but only seeing faces makes it really hard unless they have tears pouring down their faces!

I find it hard, too. I’m not sure why, though maybe it’s the having to concentrate on following who is speaking and decipher what’s going on when people speak over each other.

You don’t really get the body language either, unless you have a gigantic screen - when I’m on gallery view, people are very small.

I never know where to look, either. The camera? The person who’s speaking? Out the window?

Yes, the level of focus and concentration needed does make Zoom exhausting.

Glad it's not just me. We had to have a take away last night.

I enjoy our family quiz and yoga on zoom and that's not tiring.
But when it's a committee meeting and I have to listen to people (usually men) rabbitting on and not stopping for breath, It is tiring.
Luckily the chairman had to go to another zoom meeting so we all, happily, said goodbye.
It's better than nothing but no substitute for real life.

I so agree, I also find them limiting as there is no real discussion, and if someone does not have their camera on you cannot see facial expressions.
This happened at two quite important meetings until participants were asked to switch on cameras when talking or responding.
I also find my notes of meetings are often out of order as people jump around more going from topic to topic. Agendas out the window, I have also found the more opinionated are a lot harder to shut up.

That’s the case in RL though, isn’t it Felice? (Your last sentence)