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It’s time to make peace with the fact that virtual meetings are with us for the long haul. Vaccines or no, many companies will continue to allow employees to work from home at least some of the time. Meaning, we\u2019re going to be dealing with \u201cZoom fatigue<\/a>\u201d for the foreseeable future. That is, unless virtual reality (VR) technology such as avatars steps in to relieve us from the limitations of video calls.<\/p>\n No longer relegated to the gaming industry, VR can help us reimagine how work gets done. \u201cVirtual reality \u2014 and the use of avatars in particular \u2014 is spreading as an emerging management and communication tool in organizations,\u201d says UV Darden Professor Roshni Raveendhran, who studies the future of work and the integration of novel technologies into the workplace.<\/p>\n One reason\u00a0video calls are so exhausting<\/a> is that we have to focus more than we do during a face-to-face chat. On Zoom, everyone is staring at you for the entire meeting. We\u2019re not comfortable with these long stretches of mutual gaze because it causes \u201cnon-verbal overload.\u201d That’s why VR avatars could make our remote work interactions more bearable.<\/p>\n A handful of tech companies have created lifelike 3D avatars you can use instead of your face in meetings. Interacting with avatars requires less mental processing and thus reduces Zoom fatigue, Raveendhran explains.<\/p>\n Loom.ai, purchased by\u00a0Roblox<\/a> in December 2020, launched LoomieLive about a month into the COVID-19 pandemic. It lets you create a personalized, voice-driven avatar to use on any video conferencing service. As Refinery29<\/a> explains,<\/p>\n While you speak, your avatar lip-syncs in real-time and looks straight into the camera, even when you don\u2019t. You\u2019re free to turn away from your screen, get out of your chair to stretch, or even leave the room \u2014 all while your avatar appears engaged in conversation, speaking your exact words.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cAs companies start thinking about making remote work a longer-term reality,\u201d says Raveendhran, \u201cone key challenge pertains to missing social connection, the feeling of being part of the same group. So, there will be a lot more demand for immersive technologies like VR. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to understand the psychology that drives people to adopt some of those technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n Raveendhran co-authored a recent study examining when and why leaders might prefer interacting with their subordinates via computer avatars rather than face-to-face. She learned that managers liked avatars because they allowed for more psychological distance than do face-to-face interactions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe now know,\u201d says Raveendhran, \u201cthat people can adopt VR technologies to psychologically buffer themselves from uncomfortable situations. And this distancing aspect can sometimes be as useful in the workplace as the immersive experiences that VR might offer.\u201d<\/p>\n VR technology for the office environment is still in its infancy. Yet, its transformation over the next decade will be profound. For now, when Zoom calls, we\u2019ll happily switch over to let our avatars do the talking.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Did you like this post about VR technology?\u00a0 It <\/em>originally appeared on\u00a0the Blacklight<\/a>, our weekly newsletter for professionals. At\u00a0<\/em>the Blacklight, we\u00a0aim to illuminate<\/a>\u00a0with every dispatch that lands in your inbox.\u00a0<\/em>If you\u2019re thirsty for guidance to help you slay it at work or as a student and move your goalposts closer,\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0today!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n The post Avatars Can Make Zoom Meetings Bearable<\/a> appeared first on Stacy Blackman Consulting - MBA Admissions Consulting<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFRESH IDEAS FROM THE BLACKLIGHT\u201d SBC\u2019s Weekly Newsletter for Professionals It’s time to make peace with the fact that virtual meetings are with us for the long haul. Vaccines or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,749,775,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-stacy-blackman","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"avatars\"](\"https:\/\/www.stacyblackman.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3807747-734x489.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow Avatars Work<\/h3>\n
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