Connect with Projects, Not Just Calls

How to Go Beyond Boring Video-Calls and Truly Connect with People

Over three months into the isolation experiment, and our patience for Zoom and FaceTime as a proxy for genuine face-to-face human interaction is beginning to wear thin.

Not only are we yearning for authentic face-time, but it also turns out that video-calls require more focus than face-to-face interactions, leaving us feeling flat and lethargic.

Gianpiero Petriglieri, an INSEAD professor who explores learning and development in the workplace, told the BBC that “Our minds are together when our bodies feel we’re not. That dissonance causes people to have conflicting feelings, and it’s exhausting”.

We also associate tools like Zoom and Skype with work, and so when we’re ‘relaxing with friends’ via Zoom, our brains think it it’s a meeting, which adds further stress. How relaxed can you really be when you’re hunched over your laptop or monitor with no freedom to really move or look away?

Small Talk Doesn’t Thrill Us

The typical conversation one has via video-call might also be starting to suffer a little. With external stimulation and input being tempered, it might go a little something like this…