Hello, i was porn and internet addicted. As a nerd my social life was only taking place online in chatrooms. I recovered from this addictions and left them behind years ago. I rebuild my whole life and am now self employed and doing jobs requiring emotional intelligence and emotional stability. This was unthinkable a few years ago. So far so good. Unfortunately because of pandemic, i am doing video conferencing and homeoffice work. After one hour video conferencing i experience emotional numbess which lasts 2-3 days long. The other problem is, when i write a business email in the home office, this leads to this emotional numbness, too. When i write the same email in the office of my customer, this does not happen. I tried to minimize such problematic things, but i can't completely avoid it. And this problems are limiting my progress in development of my self empolyment. Have others experienced such problems, too?
Is it something like the post-binge depression that most people get after watching a whole TV series in one day?
Like @GokuSSB_XMAXX I would like to know more details about the emotional numbness you feel. How does it effect you day while it lasts? Video conferencing isn't the same as meeting in real life. I feel like the conversation tends to be more superficial, perhaps because everyone is on display and therefore more self conscious?
I think it's natural and understandable. You know they say a lot of interpersonal communication is non-verbal, and if it's body language it will not translate when your image is just from the neck up, not to mention the general "deer in the headlights" effect people have on a conference call, you ever notice that? Of course you are also focusing on work, but the point is there's a lot of unconscious communication when we relate in person that just happens naturally in real-time. Even tone of voice is going to be both more restrained and the general fidelity/resolution that comes across a video call is just way lower. Also, in a way it's like eating junk food. Yes you're getting a little nutritional content but it's like empty calories compared to a face to face interaction like sugar/simple carbs. From this perspective, I think it's a healthy sign that you're experiencing because on some level you recognize something is missing, though it's kind of just unavoidable given the circumstances. Do you use it for social calls at all though? If so who with and how do those go?
In the beginning when we implemented video calls at work, I got triggered very hard because it reminded me so much of porn/cybersex. Luckily after 3 months I got used to it and my mind learnt that nothing sexual or flirty is going on in that work environment. No one likes video conferences, I have them a lot too. You're practically a hostage to the camera and can not do anything else. It is very demanding. If you work at home it's ideal to have a separate room just for work to have a bit of a separation. Also problematic if you always have your alerts on, then you can never relax. Maybe it would be good to have specific working hours for yourself even when your self-employed, I can imagine that otherwise it's difficult to find relaxation as well.
