Remote workers are “body doubling”: they watch strangers work online

You may be wondering, like a 1960s infomercial narrator, “How does she do all of this?” The answer: She does both at the same time, streaming herself live from her home in front of audiences of hundreds to thousands of viewers.

She usually starts work at 9am and goes live an hour later. Onyia’s live TikTok videos, which she calls “work alone together,” have garnered her more than 100,000 followers. She has an aesthetic desk setup with ambient music and stops working from time to time to answer questions from viewers who work with her in her comments section.

Onyia is body duplication, or parallel work—a new term for an old strategy: doing work in the presence of others. Traditionally done in the same room, the trend is now taking over TikTok Live and Zoom as remote work pushes many people to focus or seek community.

For some, watching someone work on a laptop might seem as boring as watching paint dry. And others might find it unsettling, considering the workers are strangers. However, as more people struggle with ADHD and an epidemic of loneliness, body doubling is being looked at as a way to alleviate both conditions.

People with ADHD sometimes struggle with self-directed attention, self-control, and other processes, says Allie K. Campbell, who hosts live “ADHD coworking sessions” on TikTok every Thursday for her 88,000 followers. The stranger in body duplication serves as an unbiased, accountable “other” who helps one come out of one’s personal struggles, Campbell explains. She adds that it “completely changed the game” for her productivity and that of other people with ADHD she’s worked with.

It’s not the newest concept, but one that’s “exploding” because technology has made it more accessible and innovative, says Dr. David Sitt, licensed psychologist and professor at Baruch College. He noted that many people who counsel people with ADHD have said it’s easier to work while someone else is around. Plus, he added, streaming work sessions lets you connect with people around the world, which is helpful when it’s difficult to get people to actually commit to working with you.

Such was the case with Onyia, who began sporadically doubling the body about a year ago. As someone with ADHD, Onyia usually calls a friend while doing chores. One day nobody was available, so she turned to TikTok and went live instead, expecting some friends to just drop by. She was surprised to see how much work she got done and that others who joined said it helped them focus too. She likes the office but lives an hour away; With her phone, she can find people looking for companionship almost instantly.

“It made my heart happy in a weird way,” she explains. “I work from home, I go to school from home, I don’t really leave my apartment very often. And to be able to connect with people from all over the world and we all work from home together is a really fun feeling.”

While sitt tells wealth He hasn’t seen any formal research looking at this feature hack, he’s been encouraging this type of behavior in his customers for a very long time and sees “great value in it”.

Body duplication can help workers with ADHD be more productive

Campbell’s weekly coworking sessions are complete with upbeat music she spins. Her interactions with her live followers aren’t all that different from friends or former colleagues, she says.

She created the space in 2021 while working for a nonprofit, but when she mandated a return to the office, she was quitting for a “lifestyle that allowed me to work where I wanted, when I wanted and above all.” , as I wanted. ‘ says Campbell.

Campbell, who now works as a content creator and freelance digital communications specialist, has done just that with her live streams. “Engineers, artists, teachers, entrepreneurs — you name it, and I’ve probably seen it on at least one stream,” she adds. What brings them all together: A better work environment, or as Campbell’s slogan puts it, “Have fun and get shit done.”

Accountability is at the core — when you have someone to share goals with, you’re more likely to achieve them, says Alicia Navarro, CEO of FLOWN, a company that hosts Zoom Body Doubling. A University of East London study of 101 FLOWN members found that a majority reported an above-average impact on concentration (96%) and productivity (94%).

“When you watch a full screen of people concentrating and working, it’s a lot easier for your own nervous system to calm down and almost subconsciously mirror those positive behaviors,” says Navarro.

That benefit is similar to coworking, says Sitt. It’s what people with ADHD needed after the pandemic removed the structure of the routine, made it more distracted, and potentially led to an increase in diagnoses. As people worked from home, he says, “they got a lot thinner” and found they weren’t as good at multitasking as they originally thought. “The ADHD community has grown significantly during COVID,” he says. “And the opportunity to participate in the conversations around ADHD is more readily available.”

For Onyia, seeing people see their TikTok lives is a nice reminder to keep working. “I always relate to applying social pressure,” she says, adding that talking to local people has also made her more confident in other areas of her career, including speaking and presenting, something she sometimes struggles with when she gives her speech disability.

Body duplication addresses a need for community

Body doubling also fills a need for friendship that working from home can’t always fill. Making friends these days seems harder — many Americans have lost friends during the pandemic, according to the Survey Center on American Life. And in a remote setting, work buddies (which can increase happiness) can be harder to forge and require greater intention.

It’s a different way body doubling is like a coworking space, says FLOWN’s Campbell. With many workers now working hybrid hours, the offices weren’t really doing their jobs. “I think it started for the same reason a lot of things start: There was a group of people who felt their needs weren’t being met, and once they found a tool to help them, those needs were met fulfilling that was how it was understood,” says Campbell of body doubling.

As a testimonial from a FLOWN regular reveals, “Being mostly at home and a single parent, I love the social aspect.”

Navarro says her sessions create a sense of community and help participants alleviate loneliness. “People crave human connection,” she says.

Onyia explains that she’s been able to connect with others in a way that reminds her of a college library or study room with friends. She has people popping up every day now and some becoming friends on her comments section.

“I have my regulars. It’s pretty cool,” she says. “And now I’m going to have about 8,000 people watching me on a live stream. This is absolutely crazy to me.”