Excuse me professor, you're on mute – a qualitative exploration of experiences of video conferencing and zoom fatigue in university students.

Background: Despite the great feasibility of video conferencing platforms, concerns regarding Zoom fatigue, the exhaustion experienced after prolonged virtual meetings, arise. Although often examined from a quantitative standpoint, there remains a significant lack of qualitative exploration of Zoom fatigue. Objective: This study aimed to explore Indian university students' qualitative experiences with synchronous classes and zoom fatigue. Method: Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to analyze in-depth interviews of 24 university students (age = 20.38 ± 1.74, 15 females) enrolled in synchronous courses, i.e. online courses attended by students at the same time they are delivered. Results: Nine primary themes and ten sub-themes were identified by study participants for zoom-delivered courses: (i) beyond screen time; (ii) physical issues; (iii) anxiety; (iv) cognitive difficulties (difficulty in sustaining attention and remembering, multi-tasking, and distraction); (v) experiencing awkwardness (turn-taking and interruption, eye-contact, self-consciousness, and home environment); (vi) technological barriers and discomforts; (vii) lack of sympathy from instructors and administration (regarding self and family's health and regarding technical glitches); (viii) mixed feelings toward instructors (ineffective teaching pedagogy and gratitude and admiration for instructors); and (ix) feeling gratitude. Conclusion: Participants in this study were generally fatigued and dissatisfied with the experience of zoom-delivered classes. Addressing factors contributing to zoom fatigue can ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of synchronous learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]