How to slack off safely when working from home

Forget hustle culture, slacking is back with these helpful hacks thanks to TikTok

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Hero image in post

Forget hustle culture, slacking is back with these helpful hacks thanks to TikTok

By Louis Staples23 May 2022
2 mins read time
2 mins read time

Everywhere we look on social media, we’re inundated with side hustles and #hashtag career goals. But whatever happened to being lazy?

TikToker Alper Avi (@alperavi) posted a viral TikTok boasting about using his phone to appear like he’s “super committed” to work, when actually his work rate is… less impressive. In reality, he’s much more interested in getting Starbucks. (And can we really blame him?). His video has prompted other TikTokers to share their hilarious work-from-home hacks.

Avi’s TikTok featured text, which read: “When you download chat/slack/teams on your personal mobile phone and your colleagues think that you are super committed to work, whereas in reality you did it so that you can remain online on your way to Starbucks.”

The video struck a chord and has been viewed over 400k times. (Let’s just hope his bosses haven’t seen it).

“I think in the corporate world we all put on a very serious facade, whereas in reality we are a lot more goofy and laid back,” Avi told the Daily Dot. “I believe trying to be super responsive in work chats to show our commitment was a great example of this! Even if we lose focus or need a break during the day, we all want to make sure that no one notices. And that is the machiavellian reality of corporate life!”

In the comments, other TikTokers shared their own experience of using technology to pretend they’re much more productive at work than they actually are.

“Messaging the team chat ‘good morning!’ from the slack mobile app at 9:10 am in bed,” said one user. “Me at the nail salon answering Teams messages on a random Tuesday,” joked another. “Hahahahahahaha. Me doing cross-country-skiing at 10 a.m with my Teams opened,” another TikToker posted. “Lmaooooo that and scheduling emails early morning and late at night,” wrote someone else. “Me opening slack to make my status active then going back to bed,” commented another.

Still, studies suggest workers are actually more productive working from home – despite the cross country skiing and Starbucks runs. So let’s not get too carried away.

Spotify, play ‘Work From Home’ by Fifth Harmony!