Don't buy an adjustable desk, invest in a tall chair instead

2023-03-16

Love them or hate them, standing desks are everywhere in tech. And I’d like to argue that one doesn’t need an adjustable desk, but rather just a tall chair.

I pose the following question to the reader: why must a desk be low to the ground for you to sit at it?

The notion that sitting must only be something one can do while low to the ground can really just attributed to what we’ve been used to in offices for decades. The idea of sitting at a tall desk just wouldn’t make sense in a non-standing desk world.

But I’d argue, having a static, non-adjustable desk coupled with a tall chair gives one the flexibility to sit and stand whenever one would like without delay, and without the added complexity of an expensive, heavy, motorized desk. One is also arguably more likely to stand, as not having to repeatedly adjust the desk reduces friction between sitting and standing.

Sitting in a tall chair at a standing desk also affords one the ability to have a face to face conversation without needing to adjust one’s height to accommodate the other. There’s never a need to “pull up a chair”—we can just chat.

A company I used to work for (whose website I yoinked the hero image from) had non-adjustable standing desks with tall chairs—the Herman Miller Setu Stool to be precise—and it were great! I loved it so much so that, when they went out of business, I bought my chair off them for a steal and brought it with me to my next company.

Like me, I’m sure you’ve seen offices with networks of cables snaking all over the floor to power clusters of overpriced, adjustable standing desks.

It needn’t be so complicated. Just use a tall chair.