While I was getting ready for Sabbath school this weekend, I happened upon an insightful article, well worth sharing here. It can be found at:
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200421-why-zoom-video-chats-are-so-exhausting I think this article struck me because it articulates the exhaustion many of us feel after videoconferencing but can’t exactly put a finger on. These meetings drain us more than face-to-face ones do because of that feeling of being watched, of being “on” in a way that we aren’t if we’re quietly listening in a face-to-face venue. I had an old-fashioned teleconference (no cameras) on Friday and was astonished by how much less energy it cost me than sitting in a Zoom meeting, not saying anything. With so many of us suddenly having no choice but to conduct work, school, and a portion of our social lives by videoconference, no wonder we’re so tired. Even as someone who is accustomed to public speaking in front of hundreds, I can tell you that doing the exact same thing in front of a camera only for a camera wears me out much more. We can’t entirely avoid the cameras, but when they’re off, we can control what we do. When the cameras are off, be off. Let me explain. Perhaps the most physically grueling thing about camera work in all of its forms is how it limits one’s range of motion. When the camera is off, move around, and enjoy the range of motion the camera does not allow. Fidget. Sit in an unflattering pose. Exercise! Wiggle. Your body is made for movement, not for sitting in a perfect frame. Be off. The part of camera work that can really get into my head as a woman is its overemphasis on appearance. This doesn’t bug me so much with Zoom meetings as it does with things that are recorded and disseminated (like our church service and the 100 Days of Prayer), but there is this nervous notion of being compared to the broadcast beauties most people are accustomed to watching on television. Of course, I have to make an effort to look my best, but that effort can be really exhausting. To counterbalance that, if you’re not on camera on a given day, let it go. Wear sweatpants and T-shirts. Ditch the makeup. (I actually keep mine at the church so that I don’t have to think about it on the days I’m not doing recorded camera work.) Let your hair be comfortably messy. Wear comfy shoes or no shoes at all. Take a shower for your own good, but let the grinding grooming regimens for the public eye go. Be off. Another stress of being on camera is the performance nature of it all—the sense that you have to maintain a certain range of facial expressions to fit the medium. We all do this to some extent in face-to-face interactions as well, but there’s more wiggle room in those situations for the flick of an eyebrow, the acknowledgement of a distraction, or even an honest boredom. When you’re off, take that off, too. Let yourself experience your emotions honestly. Don’t let them get out of hand—be mindful of where they’re coming from and why they’re there—but don’t put yourself through the rigors of maintaining an even, broadcast-worthy smile when you’re bored, tired, exhausted, or frustrated off camera. Be kind to your housemates and don’t take your irritation out on them, but give yourself room to not reduce yourself to a caricature of the real thing. Be off, and be real. Finally, don’t dwell on the mistakes you make on camera. Whether it’s being cranky towards colleagues on a Zoom meeting or an oven beeping during a home broadcast, give yourself room to be human. Note briefly what you can fix for next time and move on. Don’t carry it with you. If you happen to hurt someone with a mistake, apologize the next time you see them, but if it’s a technical matter, leave it behind at the “off” switch. When the cameras are off, be off. And if, while you’re off, you happen to see someone else on camera who’s “on” make a mistake, be kind to them and smile a little. It’s a sign of your shared humanity. A real person makes mistakes, looks bad from time to time, has a range of unphotogenic emotions, and needs to move around. This does not make them a bad person, but a human person. Jesus Himself got tired, did the occasional impolitic thing, and had a truly wide range of emotions. Can we really expect ourselves to do any better than the Son of God? Nah. He knew how to be “off,” so we should try it, too.
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AuthorJillian Lutes is the youth pastor at West Covina Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church. Archives
May 2020
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