Zoom’s default backgrounds aren’t very natural, but you can upload free nature images to zoom from sites like Pixabay, Pexels, UnSplash, and the Wilderness Society. I’m using Forest Trees above from UnSplash.
A beach behind you on screen may make video calls less draining
STUDY: Zhang and Li, BMC Psychology 2026
STUDY TYPE: Randomized experiment
FUNDING: Chongqing University
Background
Video calls create their own brand of fatigue. Two culprits are “mirror anxiety,” from watching your own face for an hour, and “hyper-gaze,” the sense that everyone is staring at you. Attention restoration theory holds that nature scenes ease mental strain, even on a screen.
The Study
- 72 university students in Singapore, paired into 36 two-person teams.
- Each pair held a 30-minute Zoom session with either a tropical beach or a busy city street as both partners’ virtual backgrounds.
- Afterward, participants rated videoconference fatigue, mirror anxiety, and hyper-gaze on 1-to-5 scales.
Results
The nature background lowered all three measures:
- Fatigue: 2.2 versus 3.1.
- Mirror anxiety: 3.0 versus 3.8.
- Hyper-gaze: 2.9 versus 3.8.
People who felt stared at reported more fatigue.
You can’t tell, but the light in this background from the Wilderness Society moves around the Grand Teton National Park. Zoom lets you upload movie background for a more realistic, and hopefully not too distracting, effect.
Limitations
Sessions were short, sample was small, and 75% of the nature group were women versus 36% of the city group. Women reported less fatigue overall, though the analysis adjusted for gender. Without a plain or blurred background for comparison, the city scene may simply have been more irritating.
Blue conveys calm and authority in psychological studies, and bodies of water are among the top natural environments for mental health (#1 is the forest). This lake background is from Pexels.
Practice Implications
- Try a nature background on your own telehealth visits.
- This study also found that watching yourself in zoom raises anxiety, replicating earlier research. For patients with social anxiety or body image concerns who dread video sessions, show them how to turn off self-view in Zoom (“Hide Self View”).
—Chris Aiken, MD
Director, Psych Partners
Editor in Chief, Carlat Psychiatry Report
