Staring at yourself during video calls may lead to bad mood, says study
When you’re in a Zoom call, are your eyes locked on the speaker or yourself? Research findings published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science said that staring at yourself during video calls could put you in a bad mood. On top of that, drinking alcohol beforehand intensifies the case.
The findings lead to a likely problematic role of online meeting outlets in exacerbating psychological concerns like anxiety and depression. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign doctoral candidate and lead researcher Talia Ariss said, ‘We used eye-tracking technology to examine the relationship among mood, alcohol, and attentional focus during virtual social interaction.’
The researchers asked participants to answer questions on their emotional status. They were tasked to discuss their likes and dislikes of living in the local community and their musical taste. They could also see themselves and their online video call partners on a split-screen monitor. Before the test, some had alcoholic drinks and others consumed non-alcoholic beverages.
While the participants were seen staring at their conversation partners more than they looked at themselves, there were big differences in the amount of time individual participants spent staring at themselves on the monitor.
Arris shared, ‘We found that participants who spent more time looking at themselves during the conversation felt worse after the call, even after controlling for pre-interaction negative mood. And those who were under the influence of alcohol spent more time looking at themselves.’
‘In the context of in-person social interactions, there is strong evidence that alcohol acts as a social lubricant among drinkers and has these mood-enhancing properties,’ Ariss added. But when it comes to online discussions, alcohol doesn’t lead to being self-focused and had no mood-boosting effect.
Banner: Gabriel Benois
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Source: we the pvblic
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