I very rarely worked from home during BC (Before Covid), but obviously all that has now changed. I do have quite a nice set-up here, with a big curved desk and a pair of decent Ilyama monitors plus a keyboard and mouse on a USB-C dock.


My desk at home

However, after two eight hour days on the cheap and cheerful Argos office chair, my back was killing me, so it was time to spring for something decent to sit on. When it comes to office chairs, the spectrum seems to jump from sub-£100 rubbish to £300+ for an Aeron or other well known and fancy brand.

Fortunately, the conclusion I and several of my friends came to is that there is a third way: gaming chairs! Something marketed for teenagers to spend all day playing Grand Theft Auto in turns out to be just fine for doing office work in, and costs between £100 and £200. Mine was a Sunday delivery from Argos, and the amount of dust on the box made me suspect it had been at the back of the warehouse for some time.

Bolting it together was a bit of a faff, but perfectly possible single-handed, and here it is:


X-Rocker gaming chair in blue

After the best part of six months working in it every weekday, I can confirm that it Just Works. Took a few days to get used to it and adjust everything, but the level of support for the back and neck is excellent. And the bolsters and fake leather give me a tingle of nostalgia for the seats in my old Golf GTI

Of course, if you want to be really healthy, you could take a tip from an old friend of mine and improvise yourself a standing desk using an ironing board and a stack of books (yes, really). I've tried it and it works surprisingly well, but I can only manage an hour or so at a time before wanting to sit down again.