“It holds me accountable,” says Thompson, who has more than 13,000 followers on TikTok. “If I go live I have to lock myself for at least 30 minutes because it can take 10 minutes for people to connect to my stream – and if I’m not there once they find it, I wasted their time and mine.

But doesn’t livestreaming anyone online cause more distractions than benefits?

“I consider social media like sugar,” she says. “It’s part of a well-balanced diet, but it shouldn’t be your whole diet.”

And it stops her from doing anything else on her phone that might distract her, she explains, because she can’t close the app while keeping the live stream going.

She started the practice during the COVID-19 shutdowns, when she couldn’t go to a library or cafe to work with other people like she had in the past. “I’m an extrovert,” she says. But she’s found she continues the practice even now that she can go to a library because she says she’s more prone to social anxiety and wonders if people stare at her when she’s in person by compared to when it airs on his phone… for everyone to see.

“I think online disinhibition is kicking into high gear,” she says. “I don’t see you, but we know we bonded at the exact same time.”

Practice is more important than simple homework. These days, people are live-streaming other mundane daily activities on social media, whether it’s cleaning their room or doing their professional work.

The concept even has its roots in clinical treatment for people with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This practice is called “body doubling” and involves having a partner watch you do a task that involves concentration to keep you in the zone.

“One of the main symptoms of ADHD is being easily distracted,” says Michael Meinzer, director of the Young Adult and Adolescent ADHD Services Lab at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Another symptom is difficulty completing tasks and following through.”

Meinzer says trying to body double using TikTok or YouTube may be “the best thing to do” in some cases where someone else can’t be in the same room as you. But he wonders if the virtual version can be as effective when there are fewer clues from people online (for example, you can’t see the faces of those watching you on a TikTok stream).

“We have what we call supervised study rooms where students can come in and set a goal that in this hour, I’m going to get there,” he says. He says he hasn’t worked with students streaming study sessions live on TikTok, but during the pandemic his center tried to hold study sessions on Zoom, but had few takers. . “People were zoomed out at that time,” he adds.

Online role models

Isabel, an 18-year-old in England who goes by the name isabelthearcher on TikTok, says she has been studying live on TikTok every day for the past few weeks when she was studying for her secondary school finals (the equivalent of a high school in the United States). She asked not to use her full name.

“It helped me stay focused,” she says. “I’m definitely a master of procrastination.”

And she admits that setting limits, like how often she lets herself watch viewer comments, is key. “When I started, it was so exciting, to the point that at times I didn’t study anymore,” she admits. And the feedback isn’t always positive, with some criticizing the idea of ​​live-streaming her studying or telling her she should hang out.

She says she discovered the practice during the pandemic, when she watched her favorite YouTubers stream their study sessions on the platform. When one of these YouTubers, Jack Edwards, decided to go to Durham University and continue making videos from there, it motivated her to apply to this university as well.

“It’s a totally parasocial relationship,” she says, noting that she’s never met or interacted with Edwards, or other influencers she follows, including Eve Bennett and Ruby Granger.

For Thompson at Oakland University, being a role model for her viewers is also part of the appeal of live-streaming her study sessions.

“My goal is to make higher education accessible and feasible,” she says. “I also know that I’m me, with all the demographics that I check, that visibility is like, whoa.”

When not in student mode, she works at her university as a program coordinator for its Center for Multicultural Initiatives.

She argues that colleges should use social media more to raise awareness and meet students where they are, and to help students deal with the many challenges of college life.

“Our writing center does ‘writing Saturdays,'” she says, which invites everyone to join an online study group.

It’s on Zoom, but not on TikTok.