INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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TV reporter Stephen Beckett is used to being watched by strangers - but not at home
It's
08:00 GMT and I'm sitting silently in my lounge while a stranger watches me via my webcam.I can see them too
In fact we've both agreed to spend the next 50 minutes spying on each other without saying a word.We've never met before, but Jasmin - not
her real name - and I have something in common: we're both trying to resist the many temptations of working from home and finally get some
work done.Our work date has been arranged by Focusmate - a new website that promises to stop you procrastinating by having another human
hold you to account, just like your co-workers might in a real office.Every session starts with you each explaining what you're trying to
achieve.Jasmin is working on the next chapter of her book, and I'm catching up on my emails.Everything about the interaction has been
designed to make us both feel the pressure to work.Fifty minutes of quiet tapping later, Jasmin and I say our goodbyes.My next session with
Focusmate founder Taylor Jacobson is a bit more chatty."Thinking the idea is a bit weird is a common initial reaction, but this is not a big
brother," he says."It's all opt in
It's all people who are genuinely interested in doing their most important work and they want to be held accountable for that."Image
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Focusmate sells itself on the idea that we work better when monitored by someone else
Strictly speaking, Mr Jacobson and I shouldn't really be talking at all."Work quietly on the task you've declared," states the
"Focusmate is a professional community, not a social or dating site." Don't ventRespecting your work partner by being on time to your
booking, working studiously and not wandering off mid-call are other commitments you're expected to make
You can also report any bad behaviour you encounter, should your work day should take a turn for the unexpected."Willpower basically doesn't
work," says Mr Jacobson."Even if your willpower is amazing, completely off the charts, in the modern world you're still contending with more
distractions than you're built to handle."According to the chief executive, Focusmate is founded on science
Telling someone precisely what you plan to do, subjecting yourself to social pressure and being held to account are all ingredients required
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Peer pressure is intended to prevent users slacking off for too long
"For me, the key
element of this idea is making a commitment to somebody else," says Prof Philip Asherson, a psychiatry expert at King's College
London."Doing that has the potential to imbue more meaning into what you're doing."It's partly giving you a reward that this other person is
there to validate what you have done, plus the added social pressure from the implementation and planning."The key factor, he adds, is the
commitment you make to another person."Enhancing the salience of an activity is known to enhance attentional networks in the brain, that
improve sustained attention and performance."Without empirical study, however, it's hard to say how well this would work for
everyone."Virtual co-workersNausheen is writing his dissertation, Elons is editing a YouTube video and Rachel is sorting out her finances
There's a real mix of people on Focusmate, and the ones I've met in my few days on the site have all been impeccable co-workers
But you wouldn't be alone in finding the whole idea a bit odd
Project manager Ben Whitelaw has been using Focusmate for several months."There's been a lawyer in Germany who's been studying for her
exams, I met a guy from Romania who's trying to learn a language and then I met a guy from California who spent about 25 minutes stretching
in front of the camera," he recalls."You can hear people moving around in the background, or you can maybe catch a glimpse of them if
they're working at the desk."It gives you a sense that there is this agreement that you've concocted yourselves."Image caption
You can check out others before committing to adding a session to your diary
Remote working and telecommuting are on
the rise in many countries
Studies have shown a range of benefits from cutting down on vehicle emissions to saving companies money on desk space.The service and others
like have the potential to make workers more productive when away from the office, but first they need to prove more than just a minority of
early adopters are willing to give up a further element of their privacy to the internet.
