Abstract
Study with Me (SWM) is a popular type of in-real-life (IRL) streaming among students nowadays. Existing research suggests that parasocial interaction could potentially increase viewers’ learning productivity. However, limited research examines how watching SWM streaming and parasocial interaction help increase one’s learning productivity. This paper takes the initiative to investigate how two types of SWM content influence participants’ learning productivity through a two-week field study. Our data suggested three ways that parasocial interaction with streamers influenced participants’ learning productivity – encouragement/ companionship, sense of guilt, and sense of ritual. Moreover, participants’ distraction time decreased after watching SWM content showing only body parts and environmental sounds, and that female participants’ completion rates of study plans increased after watching such SWM content. We discuss how SWM streaming influenced participants’ learning productivity and perceived parasocial interaction, and provide suggestions for further investigation on this topic.