The effects of Zoom burnout on students’ mental health
Essie Ashton ’21 and Divine Niyungeko ’21
The reality of online school. Original graphic by Divine Niyungeko’21
With classes functioning completely online since the start of the school year, many students at Catlin Gabel School (CGS) are already experiencing Zoom fatigue or Zoom burnout, that feeling that students can’t possibly continue going about school this way. The symptoms include lack of motivation, headaches, extreme drowsiness, depression, and anxiety or higher levels of stress. All of these symptoms can have a negative on students' overall mental health.
Due to the restrictions set by Governor Kate Brown, CGS is currently in level 3, the most restricted phase which prohibits in-person instruction for K-12 students. With no set date for phase transition and COVID-19 cases in Oregon hitting an all-time high of 2,418 the week of Oct. 5, according to KGW, students will continue to learn remotely until case numbers lower significantly.
Despite the fact the CGS has been trying to offer safe opportunities for students to gather on campus, students are spending about five hours on Zoom each day depending on their class load and up to 10-12 hours on screens when factoring in time spent on homework, meetings, participating or facilitating clubs, socializing, and, for seniors, working on college applications. This means most students are on their devices from sunrise to sunset.
A 2019 Harvard University study, “Screen Time and the Brain,” addresses the negative impacts of excessive screen time on students’ well-being.
“A good night’s sleep is also key to brain development, and HMS researchers have shown that using blue light-emitting screen devices like smartphones [or laptops] before bedtime can disrupt sleep patterns by suppressing secretion of the hormone melatonin.”
The Harvard study also explains how sleep disruption leads to less REM sleep, which interferes with information retention: “[Young people are] lacking the deep REM sleep essential for processing and storing information from that day into memory.”
This lack of REM sleep can hinder students’ ability to learn as effectively as they once did, another negative effect of frequent Zoom use.
Research has shown that online communication not only stilts conversations, but is also mentally draining. Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at Insead, says in a BBC article says that people have a harder time processing conversations that occur via video.
“Video chats mean we need to work harder to process non-verbal cues like facial expressions, the tone and pitch of the voice, and body language; paying more attention to these consumes a lot of energy,” says Petriglieri.
Kennedy Kaas, a junior at CGS, has experienced many of the symptoms of Zoom burnout.
“I'm exhausted everyday. I'm unmotivated. Simple tasks - even making myself food - is hard,” Kaas states.
Along with the lack of motivation, Kaas explains other significant effects of staring at a screen for long periods of time.
“The excessive screen use has caused me to feel as though life isn’t real. It’s difficult to explain, but I feel like I’m in a time warp,” Kass says.
While Kass has enjoyed the time away from campus for the most part, she does miss one thing.
“I crave human interaction,” Kass says.
Human interaction is something many students are missing due to the pandemic, and transitioning into winter creates a lack of opportunity for students to have safe contact due to the inability to gather outside
Many people experience a shift in mood sometimes classified as seasonal depression as winter approaches. One in five current highschool students struggle with a mental illness, and the lack of social interaction which many teens rely on combined with the long hours on screens increases the chance that students will experience burnout.
Another current junior at CGS, Joshua Hamlett, has been negatively affected by online school. Hamlett explains that while he has experienced burnout, many others he knows have had a harder time.
“My mental health has definitely gotten worse,” Hamlett states.
Hamlett has been trying to stay very active during this time to help keep himself sane, but still struggles with motivation which is something he wants teachers to understand.
“Don’t assume students are just lazy or have problems with studying,” Hamlett said. “It’s just really, really hard given the circumstances to manage everything with deteriorating mental health.”
CGS Senior, Sophia Meneakis, feels similarly to Hamlett.
“The world is changing, and we’re in the middle of it,” she said. “We’re feeling the directness of all those changes, so sometimes we might just be too tired to turn in an assignment.”
Meneakis shared some advice.
“We don’t not care -- quite the opposite. We’re just really really overwhelmed sometimes. So please just be mindful of that when you create your schedule,” she said.
In comparison to CGS, Portland Public Schools have some key differences in how they are conducting the year virtually. Laila DeWeese, a Portland Public School student, explains that PPS has four-day weeks with Wednesdays off, and that the time may be used to do asynchronous work, catch up on missed work, or meet with teachers.
PPS also offers an abundance of resources on their Coronavirus Resources page, such as meals from school, safety and mental health resources, and health care.
As of Oct. 26, CGS teachers have been given the option to replace one synchronous class period with an asynchronous one, but it is not mandatory. There is speculation that other options are being weighed to be put in place after Thanksgiving Break that will potentially take parent and student feedback to make improvements to the schedule.