With the massive change toward remote working that has taken place over the last year, different personality types have had to adjust to Zoom. The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article today that concluded that Zoom video conferencing is surprisingly harder on extroverts than introverts. Experts interviewed said that Zoom is “less satisfying” for extroverts who thrive when talking in-person.
“One area where extroverts excel is the in-the-moment processing of bodily cues,” says William Lamson, an assistant professor of psychology in clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. But because video calls are more about talking heads, extroverts end up “using more focus and not likely getting the same reward as a live interaction,” Dr. Lamson says.
Extroverts don’t do well with the structure of Zoom calls also:
Extroverts can also chafe at some of the structure and controls that videoconferencing platforms impose on conversations, says Elias Aboujaoude, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. Functions such as muting, for example, control the conversation in a way that does not happen with in-person conversations, says Dr. Aboujaoude.
Introverts, on the other hand, do much better with more structure in conversation with workmates:
“There is less spontaneous water-cooler chitchat, which isn’t necessarily their forte and can sometimes provoke anxiety,” says Dr. Aboujaoude.
Video meetings feature frequent glitches that can offer some cover to introverts who often worry about how they look to others. “Introverts can be harsh critics of their social performance and second-guess what they have said in social settings,” says Dr. Aboujaoude.