Student blogs

Covid19 pandemic has changed the way we work. Prior to 2019, I had never used Zoom and later in 2020, I have been using it so frequently. Nowadays in many of the university courses, lectures are given via Zoom instead of in person classes largely down to strict covid19 restrictions imposed by respective Government and authorities.

From positive point of view, it has saved time such as transportation, and most importantly morning beauty preparation. hahaha… However, long term absent of human interaction with fellow students may make us feel lonely and no personal attach makes us fatigue.

Somehow, even may call it as Zoomphobia. 😛

At early adoption of using Zoom, I was so camera shy and are not comfortable to sit in front of the camera, let alone about contributions and interactions. Overtime, I get used to it but until recently, I still feel little nervous about online meetings and usually am not able to produce the same level of performance as physical meetings. Finally, I decided to research deep into this and tried to overcome this.

How to overcome fatigue – Tips!

I will now share 7 of my favourite tips that I found through research. It is not the extensive list of suggestions but was proven effective changes that worked out for me.

1. Make discipline to yourself

Schedule your time like you are at university. Although you are at home, imagine like you are in physical classroom. Stick to the schedule and try stay away from other disturbing events you may have at home.

2. Prepare mostly as you are in person

Although it is just online meeting, prepare yourself like you would be for in-person meeting. That’s including wearing the decent clothings.

3. Follow popular 20 20 rules

My most favourite one! Over the internet, a very popular suggestion is to keep 20 20 rules which is after every 20 minutes of staring PC, we are to look away and may stare scenery view for about 20 seconds. It works as magic guys!! It does release some tension and ultimately stress.

4. Get connected with classmates/ teachers

Online doesn’t mean zero emotional level connection. You can possibly connect classmates via the online medium even though it would surely be much harder to do so.

5. Informal intro talks during group assignment

I tend to go straight into study stuffs and which often cause the uncomfortable climate. Best is to first engage with informal talk, a bit of laugh and short introduction. Then start the meeting agenda. This way, everyone in the Zoom meeting would feel comfortable.

6. Don’t look at self camera

Temptation to view ourselves and thinking how other may see me is one of the human nature. Indeed it is one of the main reason which will deprive your potential performance into group discussion and presentation. Although self-awareness is good, too much of it during the Zoom meeting is indeed problematic as it would make you feel nervous once you talk and always leave you under tension.

7. Better to do some exercise

Online classes mean more excuse to stay home and avoid regular exercise. Sitting still in front of PC/Laptop for long hours is widely recognised as a bad habit for your health and wellbeing. However, I often tend to forget about it. Always recommend for you to keep conscious reminding of self to do regular exercises. This will reduce stress and hence fatigue.

Happy study and happy zooming ^_^

Feel free to share your personal experience of using zoom in comments below.

By making yourself quite familiar with Zoom before the course start, you can fly right from the beginning unlike me. 🙂