Technology for Wellbeing: Combating Digital Fatigue in the Workplace

Digital fatigue is what happens when your people’s brains and nervous systems get worn down by constant screens, constant pings, and constant switching. The fix is not “teach resilience”. It’s redesigning how work flows, how meetings run, how tools are used, and how recovery is normalised—so technology supports focus and connection instead of draining both.

This article is part of the wider playbook: Health and wellbeing in the corporate world: The Human Leader playbook

If you want leaders to feel what healthy tech habits look like (and then apply them immediately to meetings, feedback and hybrid work), start here: The Human Leader Workshop

Why digital fatigue is rising now

Hybrid work solved some problems. It created new ones.

Many teams are now living inside an “always-on” stream of email, chat and meetings. Microsoft’s research has described an “infinite workday”, with workers interrupted roughly every couple of minutes and late meetings rising (including meetings after 8pm).

That matters because constant interruption has a cost:

• Focus gets shattered.

• Decisions get rushed.

• People become more reactive.

• The day stretches into evenings, then weekends.

In the UK, work-related stress remains a major driver of lost time at work, with HSE reporting 22.1 million working days lost to stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25.

Digital fatigue is not the only cause of stress. But it is one of the most changeable inputs. Because it’s built into calendars, norms, and tools.

What digital fatigue looks like in real teams

Digital fatigue is often mislabelled as “low engagement” or “poor time management”. Look for these signals instead:

• People “nodding along” in meetings but struggling to speak up.

• Shorter tempers in chat.

• More misreads and misunderstandings.

• More “I’ll just do it myself” behaviour.

• Heads down all day, then catching up after hours.

• A general flattening of curiosity, creativity and warmth.

This is a nervous system problem as much as a productivity problem.

That’s why this cluster keeps returning to body-based leadership: Leading with nervous system awareness: Somatic skills for modern managers

The four biggest drivers (and how to fix them)

1) Video-call overload and “Zoom fatigue”

Stanford researchers have highlighted common causes of video fatigue, including intense close-up eye contact (hypergaze), constant self-view, reduced mobility, and higher cognitive load from reading fewer non-verbal cues.

Practical fixes you can implement this week:

• Make cameras optional by default (use choice, not pressure).

• Encourage “hide self-view” as standard.

• Reduce face size (no full-screen grids all day).

• Build movement into long calls (stand, stretch, walk-and-talk).

• Use a “two-channel rule”:

  • If it’s emotional/relational → video or voice.

  • If it’s informational → async update.

For hybrid rhythm design, pair this with: Hybrid teams without burnout: Designing sustainable work rhythms

2) Meeting sprawl and late-day creep

When meetings spread into every open gap, recovery disappears.

And when they push into evenings, boundaries dissolve. Microsoft’s reporting on late meetings (including after 8pm) points to the way distributed work can quietly expand the day.

Meeting hygiene rules that actually work:

• Default to 25 or 50 minutes, not 30 or 60.

• Set meeting criteria: “If it doesn’t need discussion or relationship, it doesn’t need a meeting.”

• Protect at least one meeting-light block each week.

• Add “arrival” and “closing” to reduce cognitive residue (2 minutes each).

• End with “what’s decided / who owns what / what’s async”.

And if your meetings feel emotionally unsafe or silent, fix that first: Difficult conversations in hybrid teams: A five-step conflict reset

3) Notifications, context switching, and digital “always-available” culture

This is the invisible drain. People look busy. They feel scattered.

Interruptions don’t just break concentration. They increase rework, errors, and emotional load.

Start with norms, not apps:

• Agree response-time expectations (e.g., “chat within 4 hours”, not “instantly”).

• Use status messages for focus blocks (and respect them).

• Create “single-thread” channels for decisions, so people aren’t searching everywhere.

• Stop using chat as a second meeting while someone is presenting.

This is also where culture and compliance overlap. If you’re aligning wellbeing with psychosocial risk, connect it to: From policy to practice: Bringing ISO 45003 to life in your culture

4) No recovery in the design of the day

A recovery plan that depends on holidays is not a plan.

Short recovery, often, is what keeps people steady.

That’s why we teach micro-resets as normal workplace skills:

• 60–90 seconds between calls.

• 2 minutes at the start of a meeting to arrive.

• 3 minutes after a difficult conversation to downshift.

If you want a body-based option that works in offices and on Zoom, use:
Qi Gong in the boardroom: Ancient practice for modern resilience

And if you want to embed these habits long-term (instead of one-off inspiration):
Creating your human leader roadmap: From one-off workshops to lasting change

A simple “Digital Fatigue Reset” plan for the next 30 days

Here’s a practical sequence that doesn’t overwhelm your people.

Week 1: Measure what’s draining

Ask three questions (anonymous, quick):

• “What drains you most about digital work here?”

• “Where do you lose focus most often?”

• “What one change would help immediately?”

Also audit calendars for one team:

• Meeting hours per person

• After-hours meetings

• Back-to-back density

• No-focus-block days

Week 2: Introduce three non-negotiables

Choose just three:

• 50/25-minute meetings.

• One meeting-light afternoon.

• Focus blocks protected twice a week.

• Cameras optional + hide self-view encouraged.

• Async-first for updates.

Week 3: Train leaders in “state management”

Because policies fail when leaders are dysregulated.

Teach leaders to notice state and reset fast, using:
Leading with nervous system awareness: Somatic skills for modern managers

Then apply it to the moments that matter:

• feedback

• hybrid meetings

• conflict

• change conversations

Week 4: Lock it into spaces and systems

Digital fatigue reduces fastest when the environment supports it.

• Create focus-friendly norms (digital).

• Create recovery-friendly spaces (physical).

• Design connection spaces so teams don’t rely on meetings for belonging.

Use: Designing workplaces for wellbeing: Spaces that support focus and connection

A wellbeing note leaders shouldn’t ignore

When work expands without limits, health risks increase.

WHO and ILO have reported that long working hours (55+ per week) are associated with higher risks of stroke and ischaemic heart disease, and that long hours contribute to substantial health burden.

This is not here to frighten anyone. It’s here to sharpen the point:

If your “digital culture” quietly produces long-hours norms, it becomes a wellbeing and duty-of-care issue, not a preference.

Want this to land quickly? Make it experiential.

Most organisations don’t struggle because they lack information.
They struggle because leaders can’t feel the difference between a regulated, focused state and a reactive, overloaded one.

That’s why The Human Leader Workshop is built as a practice lab. Leaders experience simple breath and movement tools in real time, then apply them directly to meetings, hybrid patterns, and communication.

If you’re also navigating AI-driven acceleration, pair this article with:
Human-centred leadership in the age of AI

I look forward to connecting with you in my next post.
Until then, be well and keep shining.
Peter. :)