Accountability Services Boost Students’ & Professionals’ Productivity

• Eliciting External Pressure: Tokyo’s Manuscript Writing Café opened in April 2022 for anyone struggling with distractions at home. Upon entering the café, visitors sign a contract stating what work they want to complete and choose between mild, normal and hard reinforcement. Staff will continually check up on them by standing behind them and reviewing their progress. Visitors aren’t allowed to leave the café until they have completed their goals. When they do finish their assignments, guests receive a stamp on their previously signed contract before exiting the space.
  
  
• Mimicking Motivation Online: Some are seeking online social pressure to achieve their goals. On TikTok, #toxicstudymotivation boasts 59.8 million views. The hashtag shows videos overlaid with harsh motivational quotes, such as: “I don’t care if you’re tired… You need to work much harder, nobody cares about your problems.”
  
  Other services mimic real-life social pressure through study livestreams. Berlin-based Study Together holds users accountable with its study communities and progress statistics. The platform consists of study rooms that either set a focus time for 25 or 50 minutes or give the option to study and chat with fellow participants. The service also offers mindfulness sessions to grant students a break from learning.
  
  Similarly, London-based StudyStream has dedicated Focus Rooms that allow users to work with strangers and “be more accountable for studies, get better grades and get closer to goals”. Focus Rooms are divided between pre-university, university students and professionals and let users set timers for how long they want to concentrate on work or study.
  
  

For more, see Adobe Surveys Generational Work Attitudes.