Hacker Remix

Body Doubling

117 points by yamrzou 5 days ago | 75 comments

satvikpendem 22 hours ago

This is a concept primarily for people with ADHD by the way, if you're not in this target group you might not understand why it's needed, as we already see in this thread.

rickyyean 21 hours ago

If this concept resonates, https://www.flow.club/ is where you'll find people who practice this technique regularly. We use it to do everything from the work we care about and want to be even better at, to work we don't care for like taxes, bills and laundry but have some mental block or emotional resistance to.

I think people with ADHD are hyper attuned to the effort that goes into everything from the moment we wake up (related term: executive dysfunction), so we look for ways to facilitate "doing." Other people who have similar levels of awareness tend to be self-employed (your time costs you), working parents (limited time and energy) and graduate students (long-term dread), but not everyone. And no, I don't think this is a purely remote work issue.

With all the AI discussion I'll just take a moment to talk about humans. HN probably thinks anything having to do with other humans are yuck especially on the internet and would be proven right most of the time. But humans and internet-mediated humans can also be great if the product does a good and careful job to allow their best parts shine. That's why we love HN and admire dang, and we try to make https://www.flow.club/ another awesome human corner of the internet.

VonTum 19 hours ago

I'm just so tired of this VC urge to monetize every possible aspect of human interaction. You're selling yourself as a "community", but instead of actually doing that you lure people in with a free trial, to then use the friendships people make to lock them into a ridiculous 40€/month subscription.

Sorry, but I'm not paying 3x a netflix subscription for what amounts to little more than a glorified discord bot.

Actually, now that I look for it, I found this exact product as a discord server. And would point people there instead: https://discord.com/invite/study

pj_mukh 18 hours ago

Mentioned this below as well. Seconding Flow Club. I don't have ADHD, but am just a new parent and god having an "appointment" w/ other people for deep work changes everything.

Shoutout to Ricky and co!

pinkmuffinere 14 hours ago

I’ve been doing this for a long time, calling them “study parties”. It works quite well for me. I wonder if this is some sort of indication that I have adhd, or if it’s just a generally effective strategy.

amfarrell617 22 hours ago

[flagged]

dang 17 hours ago

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

batch12 22 hours ago

I thought this was about mundane tasks too?

polairscience 21 hours ago

Are mundane tasks not the most difficult for people with ADHD?

batch12 21 hours ago

Not sure where your question is headed. Mine was a reply to the parent which focused on difficult tasks.

unplug8224 20 hours ago

People with ADHD experience find it more difficult to choose doing mundane tasks when a more stimulating option is present. Additionally, they are more likely to employ unhealthy coping strategies like avoidance when faced with a chore that is associated with negative emotions. This can cascade into a cycle of feeling like a failure for lack of motivation causing further demotivation. So the difficulty isn't in the task, but in choosing to sit with the task and the associated emotional.

jrflowers 21 hours ago

I like this post. You are cleverly saying that body doubling does not benefit people with ADHD

wussboy 21 hours ago

I think it’s more likely they’re saying it benefits everybody

jrflowers 18 hours ago

My mistake, so they were agreeing that body doubling is for people with ADHD then. Otherwise a less-charitable interpretation would be that GP is saying that using a website to schedule a stranger to watch you do mundane tasks over Zoom —in 2025– is the same thing as human companionship in general, but that would be a kind of strange thing to volunteer online unprompted

tetris11 2 hours ago

I used to get more done within an hour on the sofa next to my ex watching her shows, than I did in the four hours preceding it at my desk.

As a single guy now, I have the "leisure" to stretch my work hours far longer into the night and I get just as much done as when I was with her.

non- 22 hours ago

I used to host weekly virtual co-working for founders who needed some accountability. We got a lot done during those sessions and ultimately met my co-founder through it. Later today we'll be body doubling virtually to get our taxes done together.

pinkmuffinere 14 hours ago

Why do you say “used to host”? What made you stop?

joshdavham 15 hours ago

I’ve intuitively know about ‘body doubling’ for years but had never heard the term. I’ve just always understood that I tend to get the most work done in coworking spaces and cafes and not when I’m at home by myself.