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Comment by kromem | Hacker News Reader

What's wild is that when I read the headline I assumed this was faking work for desktop monitoring for their work.

But no, the comments are people using it to fake that they are working to their family or kids, even taking back to the video when family walks by.

Somehow that's so much more messed up and dystopian.

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I wonder what the situation is at home to make them go this far

I can't say why they are avoiding work, but it sounds to me like they are ashamed of letting their family see them slacking.

My family leaves me alone when I'm on a call, but feels free to interrupt if I'm quietly working. Sometimes, I enjoy the company, so I don't want to tell them to never do this, but I also sometimes need focus time. The sounds of a call provide an audible signal that This Is Don't Interrupt Dad Time.

In other words, for at least some people, it's not pretending to work so they can slack off, it's pretending to be in a meeting so they can actually work.

I imagine that in-office workers with disruptive coworkers might want to do something similar.

Yes, resonates! I don’t get focus time at home, most probably because I don’t define my own boundaries well enough towards my spouse and kids. Calls are a clear boundary for them. I work in a coworking now to avoid solving the boundaries problem.

I believe they have kids

Giant majority of people I know with kids wishes for some more alone time.

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