Study with me videos: do they work, and what are the alternatives?
A "study with me" video is hours of someone quietly studying, often with soft music, rain sounds and a timer on screen. Millions of people press play and work along. Research so far says they help many people feel calmer and more settled, but they don't seem to make you study better than you would alone. Here's what we know, how to get the most out of them, and a few other ways to get the same cozy "someone is here" feeling.
What is a study with me video?
It's a long recording or livestream of a person studying or working. There's usually no talking and no teaching. You see their desk, their hands, maybe a candle or a window with rain. Many videos are split into Pomodoro-style rounds, like 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of break, with a timer and a little chime at each switch.
You put it on and study at the same time. It's a recorded form of body doubling: working next to someone else so the task feels easier to start and stay with.
Why people watch them
In one of the first studies of the trend, researchers at KAIST looked closely at 30 study with me videos and interviewed 12 regular viewers.1 Viewers said they used the videos for three main things:
- A personal study space. Not everyone can get to a library or a quiet café. A video brings the mood of one to your kitchen table, for free.
- Gentle, controllable pressure. Seeing someone keep working nudged viewers to keep going too. And unlike a real person, you can pause the video or pick a calmer one.
- Emotional support. It felt less lonely to study "with" someone, even someone who would never know you were there.
The researchers called this "illusionary presence": you know the person isn't really with you, and yet it still changes how studying feels.
A much bigger 2026 study looked at 393 YouTube study with me videos and over 164,000 comments.2 About half the comments were positive, and many praised the music, lighting and look of the video. The authors found that these features seemed to support viewers' motivation, mood and sense of company. That's based on what people wrote in comments, though, not on measuring how well they studied.
Do they actually help you study?
This is where the honest answer gets more careful. In a 2025 experiment, 60 university students did reading tasks three ways: with a study with me video, with a real person sitting nearby, and alone.3
- Students felt less pressure with the video than with a real companion.
- They were more accurate on the task with the video than with the real person.
- But the video gave no clear advantage over studying alone.
So the best summary for now: study with me videos are a comfortable stand-in for a study buddy, but not a magic study boost. This was one experiment with short reading tasks, so it can't tell us much about months of real exam prep. More research is needed.
There's an older idea that helps explain the mixed results. Psychologists call it social facilitation. A big review of 241 studies found that having others around tends to speed people up a little on simple, familiar tasks, and can make them slightly worse at complex, unfamiliar ones.4 The effects were small. For studying, that might mean company helps most with the steady stuff, like reviewing notes or doing practice problems you already know how to do, and helps less when you're wrestling with something brand new.
How to get the most out of a study with me video
- Pick it before you sit down. Choose one long video and save it. Scrolling for the "perfect" one is how 10 minutes turn into 40.
- Go full screen, or tuck it away. Comments, suggested videos and the autoplay queue are all built to pull you somewhere else. If you only want the sound, put the video in a small window behind your work.
- Write down one task first. The video gives you company, not a plan. A single line like "finish problem set 3" gives that company something to sit next to.
- Follow its breaks, or use your own. If the video's 50/10 rhythm feels too long, use a 25 minute timer instead. Our guide to how long study breaks should be can help you pick.
- Lean on it for steady work. Based on the social facilitation research, company may help most with review and practice. For a new, hard chapter, a quieter setup might suit you better. Try both and notice what works for you.
- Notice when it stops helping. If you find yourself watching the person instead of working, switch to plain rain sounds or silence for a round.
Alternatives to study with me videos
If videos aren't quite right for you, or you want something different, here are a few other ways to get that sense of company:
- A real study buddy. A friend on a video call with cameras on and mics off. More pressure than a video, which can be good or bad depending on the day.
- A library or café. The original study with me. Other people working quietly around you, no screen needed.
- Live study streams. Livestreams add a bit of real-time company, like a chat saying hello at the start of a round.
- Virtual coworking sessions. Scheduled sessions where people say what they're working on, work in silence, then check in at the end.
- Just ambient sound. Sometimes what you want is the mood, not the person. See our list of the best sounds for focus.
- A focus app with company built in. Some apps put you in a shared space with a timer and a task list, so the company and the plan live in one place.
Where Focusland fits
Focusland is our cozy take on studying with others, without the endless video feed. You pick a room, sit at a little table next to other cats who are studying too, write your task in the task box, and start a 25 minute, 50 minute or no-timer session. The timer moves you between Focus, a 5 minute Short break and a 15 minute Long break. Finishing a session earns coins and keeps your daily streak, and coins unlock new rooms. If you need to stop early, Hold to Give Up keeps your streak safe.
Common questions
Are study with me videos good for you?
For many people, they make studying feel calmer and less lonely. One experiment found no clear advantage over studying alone, so think of them as a comfort tool, not a shortcut.
Why do study with me videos help me focus?
Viewers describe three reasons: they create a study-friendly mood at home, they add a gentle sense of being watched that keeps you going, and they make studying feel less lonely.
Are live study streams better than recorded videos?
We don't know yet. Some people like the small bit of real interaction a live stream gives, while recorded videos are always there when you need them. Try both and keep what helps.
What can I use instead of a study with me video?
A friend on a quiet video call, a library or café, a virtual coworking session, simple ambient sounds, or a focus app where you work next to others.
Sources
- Lee, Y., Chung, J. J. Y., Song, J. Y., Chang, M., & Kim, J. (2021). Personalizing ambience and illusionary presence: How people use "study with me" videos to create effective studying environments. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–13). ACM. doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445222
- Liu, T., Deng, L., & Zhou, Y. (2026). Unpacking self-regulation and social interaction in "Study With Me" videos through large-scale analytics. Computers & Education, 241, 105488. doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105488
- Ren, N., Reynolds, B. L., & Rusk, B. V. (2025). Virtual companionship or flesh and blood: The effects of study-with-me (SWM) videos on learners' intrinsic motivation, perceived pressure, and performance. Computers & Education, 228, 105243. doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105243
- Bond, C. F., & Titus, L. J. (1983). Social facilitation: A meta-analysis of 241 studies. Psychological Bulletin, 94(2), 265–292. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.94.2.265