Beaches or artistic blurs, videoconferences are often accompanied by backgrounds behind the participants. We often choose them in a hurry, yet researchers from Singapore highlight an active role of these images on our morale.
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Backgrounds offered by video conferencing applications sometimes show, behind the heads of our colleagues, futuristic megalopolises, uncluttered offices or palm trees swaying in the wind. Their main purpose is to hide from the interlocutors the interiors of each other, with clothes drying or things badly put away. In reality, when we communicate with others through a screen, we are mainly focused on ourselves and therefore on our own background.
But, according to researchers in Singapore, not all backgrounds are created equal. We already knew that video conferencing was very tiring for the brain. Now we know that the background also plays a role in our stress. A bit like a costume, it influences how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves. Hence the importance of choosing it well.
IIt is better to avoid backgrounds that change all the time, because they are big consumers of cognitive resources, and it also tires the brain. Also avoid blurred backgrounds, which give a concealing effect, the same goes for gray, which is not very positive. According to the researchers, the best backgrounds, those associated with the lowest levels of fatigue, are images of nature. Mountains, forests, seasides allow “to find a balance between psychological comfort and respect for social norms”.