‘Barebacking’ the tube – also known as ‘rawdogging’ – involves passengers sitting without any form of entertainment and people-watching, staring at other passengers to pass the time.

The term was first coined by Curtis Morton, co-host of the Behind the Screens podcast, in a TikTok that’s since racked up nearly 100,000 views.

‘You’ve commuted enough times – why are you sitting there without a phone, without a book, just looking at me, looking at what’s going on? Keep yourself to yourself. Read a book – just do something,’ Curtis says in the clip, ranking the most annoying train travel habits.

Now, I’ll happily hold my hands up and admit that I take joy in ‘barebacking’ while I’m on the tube – but not for the reason you’d think.

For the vast majority of journeys, I’m usually either reading a book or listening to music, trying my best to look awkwardly at the floor so as not to irk other passengers.

As a rule, I try to avoid doomscrolling because it only sets my thoughts racing – and I’m trying to cut down on my screen time.

But every once in a while, I actively choose to put my headphones down and just sit with my thoughts. At the end of the day, I’m sometimes so overstimulated (I have ADHD) that I need to abandon all forms of entertainment and just decompress from it all.

And yes, I hate the screech of the tube – so I choose parts of the journey I know to be quieter if I’m going to remove my headphones completely, or sometimes, I just sit with them on top of my ears with nothing at all playing, so I get the muffled effect but without any music.

I never stare at people – I usually just sit and look at the floor, or if there’s a view to be found out of the window, I’ll admire that instead.

Living and working in London, it’s all too easy to become completely absorbed by our phones during the commute – so much so that we’re not really connecting with what’s around us.

So, every once in a while, I like to strip it all back and just sit and digest the day without anything at all. I consider it a treat, and one that’s necessary for me as a neurodivergent person.

Naturally, the concept of ‘barebacking’ has caused quite the stir among Metro readers, as @howard_hennes said that ‘staring at total strangers in a public place is rude and an invasion of privacy.’

However, there were plenty of commuters who, like me, admitted to regularly making it through their journey to work on straight vibes alone.

For @d_bell, it’s clear that ‘not everyone needs to be glued to a phone every minute of the day,’ while @MephistoPD127 said, ‘you often don’t have a signal on the tube’ anyway.

@lexxedit added that ‘staring is obviously rude,’ but they confessed that unless they have a long commute, they don’t use their ‘phone or a book.’

‘I like to see the scenery and look around. Could be my age, I’m nearly 75. But what is wrong with that? Times changed, but I didn’t.’ Fair enough.

And for @agach, ‘people watching’ is essential during their commute, as they ‘take pride in [the] fact that I am not glued to the phone all the time like the rest of the zombies.’

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