Zoom 3.0: Is Your Avatar Ready?

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social NetworkingVol. 24, No. 8 EditorialFree AccessZoom 3.0: Is Your Avatar Ready?Brenda K. WiederholdBrenda K. WiederholdBrenda K. Wiederhold, Editor-in-Chief Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:4 Aug 2021https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2021.29222.editorialAboutSectionsView articleView PDFView PDF Plus ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View articleAs many stumbled their way through their first video meetings in early 2020, most never imagined that a great portion of the world would still be working remotely more than a year later. They certainly didn't expect to become experts at Zooming (now a verb as ubiquitous as Googling). Videoconferencing platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom threw us a lifeline early on in the pandemic, making remote work possible as the virus spread and countries locked down. But more than a year later, many, including the CEO of Zoom itself,1 are becoming irritated by some aspects of remote work, citing Zoom fatigue as a barrier to continued video communication.When even the CEO of the most popular video calling company finds himself suffering from Zoom fatigue, there is clearly a problem. In mid-2020, I first wrote about the hot button issue of Zoom fatigue, its possible causes, and how to avoid it.2 At the end of the year, I addressed the mounting concern and how the next generation of Zoom may help solve some of the drawbacks of communicating by video.3 Here, I discuss the future of video calls and how technological innovation will help to transform this stopgap technology into one that remains essential for communication in a globally minded future.We all know that video meetings can be exhausting, and there are measurable reasons for that. First, the necessary technology is not always readily available, and when it is, it doesn't always work. After a year of working from home, more than 40% of employees surveyed in 31 countries say they still lack office essentials, and 1 in 10 did not have an adequate Internet connection.4 This lack of resources can lead to miscommunication. Delays in transmission, common when Internet connections are spotty, make communication harder. It has been shown that a gap of just 1.2 seconds makes participants seem less attentive, friendly, and conscientious.4 In addition, the way people look and sound on typical video conferencing programs is not natural. Not only do faces appear larger than normal, which can trigger subconscious threat responses, people also speak 15% louder on video calls than they do in person, which becomes exhausting for both the speaker and the listener.4 Finally, some feel uncomfortable about blurring the boundaries between their home and work lives, citing interruptions from family members and pets as other obstacles to video communication.Still, the benefits of video conferencing in most cases far outweigh the pitfalls. On typical video calls, everyone appears as an equally sized, randomly arranged square, which lends a certain democracy to the workplace. Video meetings also make sharing documents easy and allow businesses to reach an international remote audience like never before. Furthermore, despite concerns that remote employees would simply watch Netflix all day, the past year has shown that many people actually work harder when they are given the flexibility to work from home. According to a study of 3 million people,5 employees worked longer hours, handled more emails, and attended more meetings when work first shifted online. And though Zooming for hours on end has taken its toll this past year, it is possible that working online may prove less tiring, as the rest of life can once more be experienced offline.For better or for worse, virtual meetings are here to stay. In fact, Zoom conferences and professional meetings are still skyrocketing. According to a recent Zoom Analyst Day presentation,6 compared with the same quarter of 2020, annual Zoom meeting minutes have increased by 3,300% from 97 billion to 3.3 trillion in 2021. Even with lockdown measures lifting, there are no signs of this growth faltering. Some 70% of executives are still planning to increase investment in virtual collaboration tools, and almost 65% plan to put money into training managers to deal with a virtual workforce.4 A survey by PwC at the end of 2020 found that more than 80% of employers believe remote work to have been a success.4 In light of these attitudes, a hybrid model of online and in-person meetings seems inevitable in the aftermath of the pandemic. The coming months will be devoted to working out how to avoid the pitfalls of telework, including Zoom fatigue.Though the concept of video calling was designed nearly a century ago, it turns out that developers were attempting to solve a problem that consumers did not really view as a problem. The idea of a machine that enabled face-to-face conversation across any geographical distance was indeed exciting, but with the availability of the post and the telephone, most people didn't really see a need for it. For decades, companies developed video calling products that sat, for the most part, unused. It turns out that getting used to watching video and being watched on video is not a natural transition. It took a global pandemic, a complete shake-up in work and social structure, to create enough demand for consumers to get over that initial discomfort.Now that we have overcome 100 years of resistance, there are still some kinks to work out. Luckily, every day, people are getting creative to improve the technology and solve these problems. For example, while in-person off-site employee retreats are off the table during the pandemic, businesses are turning to companies that are creating increasingly elaborate and unique virtual options.7 Instead of sitting through hours of back-to-back video meetings, teams can participate in videogame-like building activities or races.Even the most successful video call programs (Zoom and Microsoft Teams) are working to enhance the experience by making their formats more dynamic.8 Zoom is testing OnZoom, a marketplace to find virtual events, and Microsoft Teams added “Together Mode,” a feature that aims to create the feel of being in a room or auditorium by removing gallery view and instead showing all participants at once, as if they were being reflected in a virtual mirror. The creator, Jaron Lanier, says this allows social and spatial awareness functions in the brain to work more naturally, making the experience feel more like face-to-face communication.9 There are also new start-ups that are hoping to revolutionize the video chat space. For example, Gather offers a virtual world augmented with videoconferencing, allowing users to customize their spaces, helping them to re-create personal spaces in a virtual setting. As more and more options for video calling enter the market, it will be those that make the experience less draining that rise to the top.The question remains: How do we make video calls more enjoyable? The answer lies in understanding how to make the experience more natural, more akin to real-life, face-to-face interactions. Some believe that the key to this is understanding how to use avatars better—how to improve their appearance and expressions or mannerisms to be more realistic. Others want to take avatars one step further, making them 3D with the use of virtual reality (VR) or hologram technology.Microsoft, for example, is looking to unify this fragmented space with their Mesh system. No matter what headset or device any given user has, they will be able to sign on as their avatar and connect with others. As technology progresses, Microsoft wants to go beyond these avatars and turn everyone into holograms, releasing them from screens so they look like live 3D objects.10 Google is also working on Project Starline, endeavoring to create a video chat system with screens that give participants 3D depth.11The immense costs involved in creating these holograms and the hardware to display them means that their use for everyday interaction is still far off. The technology is still not only expensive but also large and complicated. Experts say that in reality, at first, workplace holograms might be best suited for situations such as recorded events, as live hologram meetings are likely to be bogged down by complex and time-consuming logistics.11Despite these obstacles, developers predict that holograms and related technologies such as VR will eventually become common in conference rooms all over the world. So, instead of a video meeting on a laptop, people will be able to enter a virtual conference room with holographic colleagues. In that conference room, co-workers can collaborate just like in real-life, brainstorming on a whiteboard, passing around a 3D prototype, and reviewing 3D designs.As our ability to create more and more complex technology grows, it is important not to get caught up in creating simply for creation's sake. As we saw with video chat development, technology does little good sitting on the shelf for 100 years while the world warms to it. So, instead of asking whether videoconferencing is good or bad or whether holograms are better than avatars, the real question in this situation should be how we can make this more person-centered, more user-friendly. How can technology better enrich our lives?References1. Cutter C. (2021) Even the CEO of Zoom says he has Zoom fatigue. https://www.wsj.com/articles/even-the-ceo-of-zoom-says-he-has-zoom-fatigue-11620151459 (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar2. Wiederhold BK. Connecting through technology during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: avoiding “Zoom fatigue.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking 2020; 23:437–438. Link, Google Scholar3. Wiederhold BK. Beyond Zoom: the new reality. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking 2020; 23:809–810. Link, Google Scholar4. The Economist. (2021) Love them or hate them, virtual meetings are here to stay. https://www.economist.com/international/2021/04/10/love-them-or-hate-them-virtual-meetings-are-here-to-stay (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar5. DeFilippis E, Impink SM, Singell M, et al. (2020) Collaborating during coronavirus: the impact of COVID-19 on the nature of work. https://www.nber.org/papers/w27612 (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar6. Dean B. (2021) Zoom user stats: how many people use Zoom in 2021? https://backlinko.com/zoom-users#zoom-stats (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar7. Varagur K. (2021) Your corporate retreat is on—but it's going to be weirder. https://www.wsj.com/articles/your-corporate-retreat-is-onbut-its-going-to-be-weirder-11615753659 (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar8. Alcántara A. (2020) Video chatting became popular in 2020, and improved along the way. https://www.wsj.com/articles/video-chatting-became-popular-in-2020-and-improved-along-the-way-11609426800 (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar9. The Economist. (2020) The Metaverse is coming. https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2020/10/01/the-metaverse-is-coming (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar10. Stern J. (2020) Help! Microsoft put a holographic James Cameron in my basement. https://www.wsj.com/articles/help-microsoft-put-a-holographic-james-cameron-in-my-basement-11614723373 (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google Scholar11. Alcántara A. (2021) Tech companies want to make holograms part of routine office life. https://www.wsj.com/articles/tech-companies-want-to-make-holograms-part-of-routine-office-life-11623232800 (accessed Jun. 30, 2021). Google ScholarFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 24Issue 8Aug 2021 InformationCopyright 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersTo cite this article:Brenda K. Wiederhold.Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.Aug 2021.501-502.http://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2021.29222.editorialPublished in Volume: 24 Issue 8: August 4, 2021Online Ahead of Print:July 16, 2021