You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Steve today with Xinyu and Yuxin.
Coming up, have you ever heard of body doubling?
It's a powerful psychological trick and it's the secret engine behind the hottest new productivity trend, the admin night.
People are gathering in cafes and living rooms and wherever they want to be honest, using the power of quiet togetherness to finally crush their to-do lists.
That's our topic for today's soapbox.
After that, when we think of esports, we probably think it's a young person's game, don't we?
But in china, the fastest growing players are in their 60s and 70s.
They are forming teams and winning competitions and turning gaming into a new kind of retirement.
It's not just a pastime.
It's a new path for the silver economy.
Our podcast listeners, that's you, can find us at Roundtable China on Apple Podcasts.
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So send your voice notes our way.
Roundtable Podcast at QQ.com.
Once again, Roundtable Podcast at QQ.com.
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Please gather round.
It's time for the soapbox.
It is time for the weekly soapbox.
It's a segment where we find a story that's been trending as of late.
We unpack it a little bit and then we share our thoughts on that, either in support of or dead against.
And it's my soapbox this week.
And I came across this story.
I don't know how you're going to feel about it.
Because for me, on the surface, it seems like it's something cool and fun and trendy.
But I thought about it a little bit more and then I had some different thoughts.
But let me tell you about the story first.
So it's this trend.
I saw this on the New York Post late January and it's called admin night admin.
Night admin, night administration.
Yeah yeah exactly, but it's life administration, life admin.
So what it is is it's this social productivity trend, and friends will get together to tackle their individual backlogs of things that they have been procrastinating on, stuff that they don't want to do their personal tasks, And this is the life admin side of it.
And they do it with each other in a cafe or at someone's house or wherever.
The location doesn't really matter.
It could be a bar.
It could be a hotel if they rent out a space there, whatever they want to do.
But the idea is that it turns the solitary chore into this kind of low-key communal hangout.
And everyone that is there, when they get together...
What they do is they sit there and they go through their tasks one by one.
Not as a group.
One by one?
They do it individually, right?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
They do it individually.
And the idea is they can do it because they've got the support of the group.
Because everyone sitting there is working on their own boring life tasks.
Things that they've been procrastinating on that they didn't want to do before.
Sounds cool.
So I saw that what they do just to like reply emails, do your attacks organizing your phone photos, because I kind of can relate to it.
Because some of these things that you need to do and you've been procrastinating for so long is the thing that is not that important, but it's been there and you kind of need to do that.
Yeah.
Or it's the things that you don't want to do it alone.
Then maybe when they're friends with you, then you might feel No, I don't think.
It's like something where you oh, I don't want to do this by myself.
Because, like Yushin said, it's things like replying to emails that you didn't do yet or organizing phone photos.
Yushin mentioned that as well.
Or paying bills, even through your smartphone, like paying your bills or doing your taxes, or creating a budget for the next month or canceling some subscriptions.
I think we all have subscriptions.
Maybe more subscriptions than we actually need.
It could be making an appointment to see a doctor or something like that.
It could be arranging your calendar for the year.
It can be anything.
It's not supposed to be about the social connection thing.
It's supposed to be about, I have this list of to-dos and I haven't done them.
So I'm going to go be in this group together.
And by being together, Then we can have the support that we need so that we can all get these done.
This is the body doubling concept.
Body double doesn't mean you're twin.
It means you have someone physically present.
And by having them physically in the room with you, it's almost encouraging them.
You focus.
Right.
But it's like a nonverbal encouraging.
It can be.
I suppose it could be verbal as well.
But just having others there helps you to achieve those things.
So having the idea of attending to this event means that I have to do this thing now, because everybody is gathering here to do that specific task.
Yep.
And then as we call it a mean night to like actually taking control of my life again.
I think that's why people are calling it.
And then I think that totally makes sense.
You just need that kind of dedicated time, big chunk of time, to do the thing that you have been procrastinating.
Yeah, that's the idea.
And it's ultra casual.
So admin night or life admin night.
I mean, like I said, they'll gather in a cafe and have some coffees.
They'll gather in a bar and have a couple of cocktails and then they just do their own thing.
Somebody might create a playlist of music for the evening.
And they say that this works. because it makes these kind of tedious tasks feel less lonely.
That's one of the reasons.
It also creates accountability, because friends are committing or strangers could be strangers.
They are committing to this event.
Right okay, we are here, i am here, so i have to do these things now, because that's why the other people came here.
So it makes you feel a little bit more accountable for your own things.
Definitely, i think i i could be one of the members, because you know they are just turning these things into a little ritual and you give yourself a reason to actually do them And using that kind of strategies like deliberately making the process feel more troublesome because you need to attend that.
That's true.
And then paradoxically, you're making the things, or making a simpler way to make sure things get done.
It reminds me of the Daz culture in China, which is a cultural phenomenon among these younger generations.
They want companionship.
Maybe it's with strangers, but it doesn't matter.
But you have the same shared hobbies or interests.
You can do this together.
So you have like designated time location.
And then you two just you two or met more people do this together.
And then after that, you just separate your go back to your own.
So the concept is kind of the same.
I think it's similar.
You're accomplishing some sort of goals.
Yeah, but not that like mundane everyday tasks.
Text, but more like hobbies or interests.
This is what, pardon me, I'm going to get to my soapbox in just a sec, but this is what people are saying about it.
One participant said we're all really excited because none of us want to do any of these things, but it's exciting to come together.
Another person said on TikTok, admin night has actually changed my life.
This sounds really positive, doesn't it?
Yeah.
What a great thing.
Yeah.
Everybody's getting together to accomplish their life tasks.
I don't like it.
And I'm going to tell you why.
Can I have my soapbox, please?
Look, I get it.
Life can feel totally overwhelming.
A million little tasks come flying at you and handling them can seem like trying to climb a mountain in a pair of roller skates.
It's hard to get traction, and you probably feel like you're about to fall on your face.
But guess what?
That's life.
That's called being an adult.
And this is what I'm worried about.
If we start relying on a scheduled group meetup just to accomplish the most basic tasks of being a functional human, then what are we going to do when the real stuff hits?
When the big, hard, messy, emotional, actual problems of life come to your life?
If you need to meet a bunch of strangers at a bar just to finally schedule your dentist appointment or delete some old photos.
What are you training your brain for?
You're training it to need a committee to function.
That's a crutch.
And if you use a crutch long enough when you don't need one, you'll forget how to walk on your own.
And that is a slippery slope.
You know, I remember being a kid and looking at my parents and thinking wow, they have it all together.
Being an adult must be so easy.
Of course, now I know the truth.
They absolutely did not have it all together.
They were probably drowning, juggling three kids, work their own relationship, all while keeping the house from falling apart.
And I admire that.
Two things about it, as a matter of fact.
First, I admire that they were able to hide that struggle from us kids.
But second, and even more now...
I admire that my mom didn't have to go to a cafe with a bunch of strangers just to finally clear out a photo album.
She just did it.
Because that's what you do.
Now let me be clear.
If this is just about friends hanging out for a couple of cocktails and the main point is connection, and while you're there, you share your problems and seek real advice, because life is hard and emotions are complicated well, that's fantastic.
And we need more of that.
But rebranding that as a necessary life hack, because rearranging your 2026 planner requires a 12-person support group.
Come on.
Grow up.
Toughen up.
Be an adult.
And I think you'll find something incredible happens when you do.
When you sit down by yourself, you wrestle that to-do list into submission and you scratch those things off.
The reward is so much greater.
The confidence, the quiet pride, the knowledge that you handle your own life, that you don't need an audience to be competent.
That feeling is unbeatable.
Stop outsourcing your basic competence.
Do the hard, boring things alone, and you'll be stronger for it.
Turn right.
Wow, Steve, you sounded just like a harsh papa.
What do you think, though?
Do you see my point?
My point is you've got basic stuff to do when you're an adult.
Of course you have to clear your calendar or schedule your budget or go to a dentist or whatever.
If we start thinking like, I can't do this on my own.
I need a support group for this.
That becomes a little bit dangerous the more or the bigger the problems become in your life.
Yeah.
I think that's two different perspectives.
I would say, when people are treating it as a, as a social activity, of course, while i am meeting up with people, i am having more conversations, having social lives, and meanwhile i can do the things that i have been procrastinating.
That's good.
But from your perspective, is that these things are the things that you should be capable of doing it by yourself?
Yeah right, relying on others, yeah.
So yeah, i think that all makes sense.
Or maybe it's just one more reason to get together with your friends by having this admin night.
But I get that.
I guess for today's younger generations, they do like feel lonely a lot of times because they already spend a long time alone, being alone, doing a lot of things alone.
So maybe that's the reason why they want to find that companionship or social connection or that part of comfort.
Yeah, like it could just be for anything.
The reason doesn't really matter.
Yes yeah, but ultimately i guess that learning to live with solitude, to navigating loneliness, is just the biggest, one of the biggest challenges for your own life.
Do you think there's any connection?
I mean, we've talked about this a lot on this show, But it's just been in the news in general, globally how the younger generation grew up with.
You know, it's a digital generation.
And then COVID blah, blah blah because of, you know, social connections and not being able to go to school.
So missing out on how to get along well with friends in public, it became awkward sometimes.
Do you think there's any connection between that and maybe taking care of basic tasks?
Because taking care of basic tasks, yeah, that's the hard part of it.
It can make you feel like you're in solitude or a solitary confinement of sorts, when you don't have anybody that you can kind of be with.
Do you think there's any connection to that or no?
When you are like getting into that kind of mindset of okay, i should be capable of doing that um, and under that circumstance of you are like because the environment you are getting isolated, i think yeah, people will need that kind of um, like comfort from the outside but um, I like this and I'm not like 100 agreeing with you is that I don't think in this society, people
I think your side is that making people tough enough to do your things, to do your daily chores, and being capable of handling issues by yourself.
And that is the process of growing up.
But I think in the process of growing up people can also have the chance or the window to take a breath.
And getting another people or another group of people to share that kind of feeling and do that together.
Yeah, maybe just like a little therapy session.
Like, oh, this stuff's a pain in the butt.
I don't want to do this stuff, you know?
And I just want you to understand.
I just want somebody to understand that. that it is difficult for me to do these types of things.
And sometimes it just doesn't even have to be an event like that.
It could be just a FaceTime, a video call, and we just sit together and give me an excuse to do that.
Or you just know that somebody else is there by your side and that can give you more comfort to do your own task.
And I also think that in this digital era, even though that we are like connected, socially connected like 24 seven.
But emotionally, we don't feel less lonely.
I feel that today's younger generation, they are feeling more lonely than before.
You think so?
They have a lot of online friends, but maybe that level of social connection is lower than maybe the previous generations.
Yeah, and I think it's always been hard, no matter what the generation, to get out there and meet people right.
Get out there and make new friends, right?
You need some context.
And that seems to be more important now than it was before.
Because now there are very specific group meetups and they seem to be popular, right?
Even in China, they're popular.
We talked about it on the show, about one of the meetups is you don't know who they are and you don't know anything about them.
Blind box meeting.
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But at least that's the context, right?
That's the theme.
That's the reason for the meeting is I don't know anything about you.
So maybe that's the most important thing.
Not why people are meeting, but just the reason that people are meeting.
Yeah.
Interesting.
That's my soapbox for today.
If you disagree or agree, then feel free to contact us.
Roundtable podcast at QQ dot com.
You can send us an email or a voice note and let us know what you think about that.
When we come back, watch out for grandma.
She's becoming a gamer.
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This is Roundtable today with Xinyu and Yuxin.
When we think of esports, we picture teenagers, perhaps, or at least kids.
Young people in their 20s, maybe burning the midnight oil in gaming cafes or at home up late at night.
Quick reflexes, youthful energy, driving the victories with every battle they encounter.
But now in China, a really cool thing is happening.
People in their 60s and 70s are forming real esports teams.
They're training seriously, they're entering competitions and they're turning gaming into a new way of aging with purpose.
One that brings achievement and victory and community and even economic independence.
I was surprised by this story when I heard it in the beginning, but I also loved it when I heard it in the beginning.
So let's get some more details here.
Yes, this sounded just so cool because when we think of seniors, we usually relate them to traditional pastimes like square dancing or playing mahjong.
You know mahjong, this traditional tile-based game, but not this digital entertainment, especially this competitive video game.
I mean, but nowadays things have really The pixel is moving so fast that you probably cannot track where you are.
That's one of the reasons why these stereotypes have emerged.
But things have changed now.
If we look at this economic and cultural phenomenon in China, silver esports have emerged and shattering these age-related stereotypes.
And I'll give one of these examples from Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province.
There is an e-sports team called BSG, and it's led by 70-year-olds.
It's based in a senior care institution.
And I've looked into that.
It was established in November 2024 and by March 2025.
So that was last year. a seven-member team had been formed with an average age of 65.
And their main game is League of Legends.
And I looked into the reasons why they chose League of Legends.
Because The founders said the grandpas and grandmas, they have some sort of trouble.
They have this 3D motion sickness, so they can only play League of Legends very well.
But they are training rigorously, so they are aspiring to compete both nationally and globally.
That's definitely a big trend.
In Guangdong, there's a 58-year-old known online as something Gun Grandma?
Yeah.
She went viral.
She defeated a 17-year-old esports prodigy in Counter-Strike, if you know what that game is.
CS.
CS, the FPS game.
She has over 10,000 total gaming hours. and 8,000-plus in Counter-Strike alone.
The big companies are getting involved.
Tencent is involved.
NetEase, excuse me, they are recruiting senior players for offline events.
There are brands like Meituan that are sponsoring what they're called Silver Sunset esports teams.
So there's a lot of support behind this.
And also globally, the trend is equally compelling.
Sweden's Silver Snipers, a team with an average age of 67, won the 2019 Counter-Strike Global Offensive World Cup.
And international events like DreamHack now feature dedicated senior divisions.
China's Silver Snipers Esports movement is also there.
It's part of a global shift toward inclusive gaming, where age is no longer a barrier to esport competition.
Yeah, and the age, we would expect that younger players would be better because of reflexes.
But they say, well, that is true.
That is true that younger players have faster reflexes.
And for games like Counter-Strike or League of Legends, your reflex time is really important.
Yeah.
You need to react to that very millisecond movement.
But they say that the seniors are leveraging their life experience to read the game pattern and anticipate what their opponent is going to do next, to make tactical decisions, as opposed to simply relying on reflex time.
Being proactive, I guess, instead of being reactive.
One of the famous players excels at staying calm, doesn't panic And securing kills when her teammates are frustrated.
And that turns that emotional regulation that grandma is good at into a competitive edge.
How awesome is that?
They're using their life experience to win.
That's the part that actually fascinated me.
Because, yeah, thinking of e-games.
And you'll have to be very, very flexible on your fingers and also your mind.
Yep.
But in this case I think I kind of understand that, because they're just using their life experience that is probably 40 years more than your opponents to actually predict what you're just going to do.
And probably yeah, a lot of these games they use not only like mouse clicks and techniques, they use that kind of psychological techniques.
Because you have to understand what they're trying to do or what they're going to do, and maybe the plans and how you can hide from the wall and go to that spot and get your opponents.
I mentioned that the companies are very much supporting this as well.
Game developers too.
And the brands.
They're not being passive beneficiaries here of silver esports products, popular players or popularity of silver esports.
They are actively becoming strategists in this, too.
Yes.
China's tech company like NetEase developed specialized training courses targeting the seniors, while Tencent invited Zhong Juanjuan, the gun grandma that Steve mentioned, to these offline events to promote age inclusion. as well as some of the companies that are optimizing products for these seniors from these large button mice and also ergonomic, which means comfortable chairs for these elderlies.
And also they have simplified controls and extended match timers.
So these all can create a better user experience for these dedicated group.
And also we are seeing these brand sponsor companies, Senior esports leagues and streaming initiatives.
They can foster a sense of belonging, like we've just mentioned, Meituan Silver Sunset Teams.
So esports is, can we say it?
It's revolutionizing elder care.
Is this in the elder care economy?
Does this count?
I guess part of them is elder care, because it can for sure provide some of the social connections that these elderly people need.
They are not.
At least they have something to do.
Is this connected to our better house story from before?
Now a better house for elders needs to have an esports training center.
Yeah, probably in the future we can install that kind of facilities in the communities as well for these elderly And also psychologically it is kind of helping them as well.
I saw that you previously mentioned that a gun grandma, she has a fan group.
And she said that that actually actively helped her about the issue of being alone at home or something like that.
And also I've read one of the comments which said that he has seen his own future of retired life because she wants to do the same thing as the gun grandma.
Oh, really?
So inspiring other younger generations.
Yeah.
And future gamers, too.
What a fun story.
I really like this one.
Good luck to all the senior gamers out there.
All right, that'll do it for today's roundtable.
Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today.
We had a good time.
We hope you did, too.
For Xinyu and Yuxuan, I'm Steve.
Have a good one, and please do come back again next time.
