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Part of many people's pandemic experience included working from home. Even after lockdowns, videoconferencing remains a big part of life as people continue to work remotely, connect with families and friends online, and attend virtual events hosted on videoconferencing platforms.

Spending hours on video calls, however, can be exhausting and manifest as physical, emotional, or cognitive tiredness—a phenomenon known as videoconferencing fatigue (VF). Now, researchers in Singapore have asked if a relationship between virtual backgrounds and VF exists and what the underlying mechanisms are.

"We show that the use of different types and contents of virtual backgrounds can contribute to VF," said Heng Zhang, co-author of the study published in Frontiers in Psychology and a researcher at the Nanyang Technological University Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

"Users who utilize video virtual backgrounds experience higher levels of VF compared to those who use image or blurred virtual backgrounds."

Tiring backgrounds

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