Zoom is foie gras of the brain
“We lack the necessary signaling of the nonverbal cues when only looking at one’s face. The presenter’s large face only a few inches from our screen may evoke our primordial threat response with its resulting cascading transmitters. The angulation of computer and phone cameras causes facial distortions. Unless one aligns oneself to be at the same level as the camera, the camera angulation may cause one to feel either looked down upon or looked up to, but rarely on the same playing field.
Our neurons are living and breathing cells, and they need to eat and rest. The brain is responsible for filtering through vast quantities of homeostatic signaling from the rest of our bodies, which may affect the limitation of information that we can process. Our neural circuitry limits our information processing capacity. Just ask why can’t we pay attention to two ongoing conversations at one time? Electrical circuits have breakers for overload. We just have coffee.”
Lester Gottesman is a colorectal surgeon.
He shares his story and discusses his KevinMD article, “Zoom is foie gras of the brain.” (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/10/zoom-is-foie-gras-of-the-brain.html)
