LW Study Hall - 2 Month Update

I reposted this comment on discussion because I think more people need to consider visiting the chat, but as someone who almost never posts anything, I wasn't sure if that's proper "posting protocol". I'd be glad about feedback concerning that.

I'm a regular there. Here are my observations.

This is fun. I haven't had this much social fun on-line for a decade. I'm a corporate stooge, and usually sitting at a keyboard and typing for a living is not that social and not that fun for me. As much as I enjoy spending time there, the mere social fun is not the purpose. I've noticed that whenever I join the chat without a clear goal, I tend to drift through pomodoros without achieving that much. I first need to do some GTD-style analysis of what project I want to work on, and what are actionable steps to take during a pomodoro. I like to ask the participants about their projects and I like and find it useful to briefly explain mine.

Apparently a little social salience can go a long way with me. BTW, that is a possibly useful observation for team mangers, and it agrees with what random pop-psychology of human motivation I've heard about.

I'm worried about the long-term prospects of this idea. I think most of the participants are students. During the first summer vacation season we'll likely see a big drop in participation.

You've submitted the link to the chat room weirdly, Anne.

This is a pretty accurate post in regards to my experience with the room as well.

Also just for reference - we get maybe around 10 people on peak times of which 7-8 have webcams on. During active non-peak times you might expect a median of 4 people with webcams on in addition to 1-2 without.

Please note that the Study Hall is password-protected as of today. The password is "lw". The relevant discussion post (explaining why we chose a password) is available here: link

Thank you for posting this!

I'd like to give an update on my experiences, too (my comments after my first few times in the chatroom are here).

I've found that, lately, it seems norms are slightly less enforced than when I first started using the chatroom. However, there are a couple of users who do a very good job, when they are around, and that may be why the other users are slacking (I include myself in this criticism). Also, I agree that we are beginning to consider each other friends, so we feel more comfortable relaxing around one another, and thus, perhaps, we do not have as much of an intrinsic push to tell everyone else to go back to work. However, I emphasize that this only seems to be a slight change to me.

I now can say definitively that I am more productive when working in the chatroom than alone, even when I am using the pomodoro technique alone. I find that I am even more effective when co-working with a single partner in person (preferably someone whom I am friends with, but don't socialize with much, outside of work times). However, I don't have the motivation to find a partner and plan meetings right now, so the chatroom is a great second alternative. And I enjoy the time I spend there, which is important to me.

A big problem for a lot of us is making it to the chatroom in the first place. I hypothesize (at the very least, for myself) that this is because it takes more energy to work in the chatroom than to work alone (even if the chatroom is more fun). Being in a social situation is a stressor...and that's the idea, as it should lead us to to do more work...but the stress in and of itself and/or the more work that gets done leads to a greater expenditure of energy, and thus it takes a lot of motivation to go to such a place in the first place. The precommitment sheet is a good tool, but I don't use it, and I think I would be best helped by making a routine to come at a certain time on certain days of the week, every week. Others might find the precommitment sheet quite effective enough.

I do like the chatroom a lot; I do think it increases my productivity, and I plan to continue using it. I'm actually connected right now, though no one else is there.

It also would be pretty cool if Eliezer were to join us from time to time. haha.

I have a problem. I really like the study hall and I like working in our citys library. The problem is that the network of the library doesn't allow tinychat. My first thought was "hm, why not google this problem?" and that gave me an idea! Why not use google instead of tinychat? I have to confess that I've never used google hangouts so far. But it seemed to me like a good idea to suggest google hangouts as an alternative to tinychat. Hangouts seems to work even on this weird city network and google is usually a good choice, no matter what (haters gonna hate).

This is just a suggestion, but I'd really like to hear what you guys (especially the frequent study hall users of course) think about it.