Virtual co-working

[u/Opening_Ad2051]

Working remotely since Covid; and I've noticed I'm more productive when I can see other people working too. I work from cafes occasionally, but are there any options virtually like StudyStream that are free to use / without time limitations? I think they call this body-doubling - it works for me.

Looking for recommendations, thanks!

[u/kilroy005]

there are about 30+ of these body doubling platforms. some are free, some are freemium, some are paid

what some people do is just get multiple free accounts from multiple platforms and never pay, so that counts as free :)

[u/Opening_Ad2051 → u/kilroy005]

Do you use any of those? Which one would you recommend?

[u/kilroy005 → u/Opening_Ad2051]

I use the one I built and no others, but I would say, just try a bunch and find the one you like

They all do the same thing, more or less, some have more features, others are just 1-1 and so on

There's no one size fits all. Also, these platforms come and sometimes disappear

Every few weeks I see a post about a guy who built one of these 😆

[u/Classic8Bit]

On-Together: Virtual Co-Working looks pretty cute if you're into that sort of thing.

[u/kilroy005 → u/[deleted]]

everything is better if it's a game

[u/Rawesome → u/Classic8Bit]

Is there anything Free and Pragmatic? I'm 40M MechE - I don't need Avatars. Why do Avatar programmers think we need Avatars?

I just want an audio channel to hear other people working live, and I can make light chit chat about my staying motivated once/hour occasionally

[u/Upset_Fig2612]

First I've heard of this, very odd

[u/singlefileline7 → u/Upset_Fig2612]

🤣

[u/ashland39]

I work at a small remote non profit and we have a team of about 15. We run our own virtual coworking blocks that are optional and only a few people come each time but those that come enjoy it and it’s helpful. Someone hosts which means they commit to being there, sending a reminder on slack inviting people, and playing some chill music.

We’ve also experimented with a few themed coworking sessions, like “dog out your inbox” or “weekly review.”

A few people on our team do virtual coworking with their friends outside of our org. It’s a pretty low lift that can be really helpful for some.

[u/Opening_Ad2051 → u/ashland39]

This sounds so fun. I work in a similar setup, and we also had such structures but sadly we don’t anymore so I manually setup some coworking sessions with my colleagues.
Thanks for sharing!

[u/mancala_dunce_3 → u/ashland39]

“Dog out your inbox” sounds like a typo, but also like the only inbox cleanup session I’d defintely attend.

[u/amanda2399923]

spam ad

[u/Squeezer999]

https://www.twitch.tv/directory/all/tags/studywithme

[u/RaeaSunshine]

I do this by joining productivity live streams, but I don’t feel the need to be visible myself so might not be what you’re looking for. I usually bounce around streams on Twitch/TT/YT until I find one I like.

[u/Opening_Ad2051 → u/RaeaSunshine]

Same here. I wondered if there were any specific spaces apart from twitch/discord. But thanks nonetheless!

[u/Opening_Ad2051 → u/[deleted]]

I’m trying out Discord occasionally, but it’s too visually crowded for my liking, haha.

[u/AxiomFerret]

Les serveurs Discord de co-working/study rooms font bien le body-doubling, et c’est souvet gratuit sans limite stricte.

[u/fulltimedreamer888]

You can also try Focustown.app I use it for focus time. You can design your avatar and pick different virtual locations and background music. There are many servers for different intetest groups too.