The rise of body doubling as Gen Z tackle WFH loneliness
The idea is that you have company while working remotely – but there’s no speaking. Is this the answer to WFH loneliness?
Two people, sitting on Zoom, not speaking … for an hour.
For millennials, it sounds like an awkward social faux pas. For Zoomers, it’s a
powerful productivity hack – and an antidote to the loneliness of hybrid and remote
working.
The term body doubling was reportedly coined by ADHD coach Linda Anderson in
the mid-nineties.
However, it has recently seen a rise outside the neurodivergentcommunity too, largely thanks to its popularity on TikTok.
(There, you can join a “body doubling live stream” and tick off your to-do list with a bunch of strangers.)
The concept? Two people complete a task in tandem, either in person or virtually.
Cameras are kept on, but there’s minimal conversation. The goal is to mirror each
other’s productivity.
On the body doubling website, FlowClub – which matches people with body
doubles across the world – every session is divided into three parts: five minutes of
discussing goals, fifty minutes of working in silence, and five minutes of “celebration.”
Other websites, like FocusMate and Deepwrk, offer a similar service for a monthly or
annual fee.
For a cheaper alternative, Gen Z are arranging “body double dates” with their mates.
It offers the camaraderie of a coworking space without any of the overheads – or
the small talk.
“For my younger clients especially, ‘buddy doubles’ offer connection without
demand,” says neurodivergent consultant and ADHD coach, Sarah Eagle. “There’s
no pressure to chat and no pressure to perform. Many have grown up in a world
hyper-focused on output and comparison, so the relief of simply being – while still
making progress – is huge.”
Her clients use body doubling to complete their “wall of awful” – the tasks they’ve
been putting off because they’re frustrating or boring.
“I’ve found themed sessions are often more helpful than open ones,” says Eagle.
She’s heard of body doubling for everything from ‘reading LinkedIn’ to studying and
doing a weekly cook-up.
“When you commit to a regular body double for one task, you start to see progress,”
she adds. “I once finished an entire course just by showing up for two hours a week
in a study buddy double. Without that rhythm, my brain would have kept shouting,
‘Too much! Later!’ But with one small, protected pocket of time each week, I chipped
away, slowly and kindly.”
So, what’s your duty as a ‘doubler’? This is up for debate.
Some people say it’s your responsibility to keep your partner focused on their task.
Others say this is too much pressure, and every person in a partnership must hold
themselves accountable.
Instead, body doubling has been compared to “parallel play” – when two children
play alongside each other but don’t directly interact with each other.
You can even body double with a cartoon character.
The YouTube channel Lofi Girl – also known on TikTok as “the girl studying by the
window non-stop” – allows people to body double with an animation of a girl
studying, set to relaxing background music.
At the time of writing this article, over 15,000 people were watching a live stream of
Lofi Girl studying – the re-runs of these videos regularly get half a million views.
For body doubling to be effective, Sarah Eagle has three rules: keep it simple, keep
it kind, and make it regular.
“Don’t try to make it social, even though we love a yarn,” she says. “The point is to
hold each other gently accountable. A lot of my clients have a dedicated ‘Chitty-
Chatty Double Buddy’ once a week so they can do their neurodivergent tangents and
wisdom sharing there.
“And remember, you don’t have to be in the mood to work,” she adds. “You don’t
have to be ‘ready’. You just have to show up. That’s where the progress starts.”
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Originally published as The rise of body doubling as Gen Z tackle WFH loneliness
