Why video-calling for work or school can be jarring:

Now that almost all of us attending lectures and working from home, video-calling has become the preferred medium of communication. It is indeed easier to understand and explain when you can see the face of the person who is talking or listening to you. But there are several ways in which video calls can affect our mental health.

Video calling can make people think that they have to always portray themselves in a certain manner, which was mostly absent when they were actually in the school or office campus. They are aware that people are always watching them and that they need to look decent and professional. This keeping up can be tiring and can lead to anxiousness. Additionally, as people can see themselves in a small box in the corner of the screen, they can become self-conscious and uncomfortable.

When people talk to each other, there is always a craving to know if the other person is listening to them properly or not. But while on video calls, it is possible that the other people’s cameras are turned off, which makes a person question if the other people are listening to them. The need for eye-contact is also fundamental while talking to other people. But while video calling, the camera is not where the person looks at, which can make the others feel that they are not paying enough attention.

We cannot discuss why video calls can be jarring without talking about technical issues. These issues often scar an important conference. If a person loses out on some critical information because of network issues, it can harm them and the organization in the future. And when a person does not get a piece of information properly, the others have to wait for that person to take that information which they already have.

These reasons often make video calling cumbersome for some people and all of us should have the decency to give them some time and let them adjust because we are living in a world that is transitioning rapidly every day.