Videoconferences hinder creative ideas — Nature journal study
Individuals who are participating in video conferences tend to come up with less creative ideas than meeting in person, according to the study published in the Nature journal.
In a study on how video conferencing had affected the creativity of office workers, researchers from the United States paired up nearly 1,500 participants in either in-person meetings or Zoom calls to come up with as many creative ideas as they could
Pairs who met in person came up with 15% more ideas than those who only met online.
The study said that “videoconferencing hampers idea generation because it focuses communicators on a screen, which prompts a narrower cognitive focus.”
Columbia University Assistant Marketing Professor and the study’s Co-author Melanie Brucks explained that “in the virtual condition, people are looking significantly more at their partner — almost double — at the expense of their broader environment.”
She added that people are “most creative when we’re unfocused and free.”
These results suggest that companies with hybrid work set-ups should “prioritize creative idea generation during in-person meetings.”
