Productivity: down the drain

Taken from here. The endless cycle of procrastination that will ultimately drive me crazy!!

     Must stop procrastinating!

  Most people would agree that technology makes our lives easier. Yes, it’s true that technology has made great advances in fields such as agriculture, science, medicine and so on. Even the way people talk and communicate has drastically changed. From old fashioned snail- mail to Facebook, people connect to each other much faster and easier. However, the only major advance social media has given me is in the field of procrastination.

    Before social media came about, I did not really have any real means of procrastinating. At most, I walked around the house aimlessly, opened the refrigerator every few minutes, looked outside my window at cars, trees, or anything else to stall time with. In less than 30 minutes, I would get bored of procrastinating and go do my homework again. Without any distractions, I could focus on my work and get it done as soon as possible. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to go outside and actually have fun with my friends.

    With the advent of social media such as Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr and Twitter, it has become much easier to connect with my friends and that much easier to procrastinate. Even my friends who have moved away to college are just a few clicks away. My newsfeed constantly updates with funny links, pictures, and statuses of their new college lives. When they are not on Facebook, I can look through old pictures of myself, friends, and family members; picture after picture, album after album, all on my computer screen like an endless slideshow. With it’s plethora of applications, Facebook is like a pool of quicksand, sucking up my time. Sometimes I want to give myself a small break, only to find out that I’ve been on Facebook for hours on end; I think I will have to deactivate my Facebook in order to get any schoolwork done this year.

    I know I’m not the only one who finds Facebook to be the source of most of my procrastination. In March 2012, salary.com surveyed more than 3,200 employees to show how much time they waste at work and what they do. 64% of the people surveyed admitted that they visit non-work related websites every day. 39% of the employees spend about an hour surfing the web, 29% spend up to two hours, and 21% waste up to five hours a week at work! I was not surprised to see that Facebook was the top website the employees visited; 41% of the employees wasted their time on Facebook during work. 

     But Facebook is not the only problem; Youtube is another one of my weaknesses. I might have wanted to use Youtube to look for helpful Calculus videos one minute but before long I’m tempted into watching a music video another minute and then I look for skin care tips the next. Each time I’m finished watching one five minute video, my mouse almost unconsciously hits the next button. All of the information is organized right in front of me and is never out of reach. Even with a deadline looming above my head, I feel the temptation in my fingers to watch one more video, just one more click.

     When I reflect on how unproductive my day was, I always get so frustrated with myself. Social media and the internet in general has severely affected my ability to spend my time wisely. It is ridiculous and I hate it. When I think about it, I feel so powerless. I’ve told myself countless times that I will not procrastinate, that I will not go on Facebook tomorrow, that tomorrow will be more productive. Perhaps I can stay away from my computer. If I do not turn my computer on, then I cannot go on Facebook or Youtube and waste hours of my time. Great idea! But wait, I need to use my computer for homework. Sometimes I wish my homework did not depend on the computer or the internet as much; at least if it was handwritten, I would not be able to procrastinate as much.

     Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate Facebook or Youtube; after all, I can talk to my friends who have moved away for college, like their funny statuses, and share Youtube videos on how to use a tomato as a facial cleanser. But while I love doing all those things, I hate the way I spend my time on Facebook and Youtube. It’s just too easy to procrastinate. (I would hate the other social media websites too, except I decided not to make accounts on them. Best idea ever.)

     On yahoo voices, Calvin Wolf, a teacher, shares his thoughts on social media. He witnesses “students lagging on notes and classwork, distracted by the glowing screens of their pocketed smartphones” in his classroom daily. His students believe that Facebook and texting actually “helps” them focus on schoolwork. Wolf says, “The teens insist that, once they check their messages, status comments or wall posts, they can better focus on their work. They also claim that, as long as they get their work done, they should be able to use their phones as long as they aren't distracting anyone else. What is perhaps most alarming is that the teenagers may actually believe what they are saying.” I think it is interesting that Wolf and I both find the digital culture to be alarming, although I am a teenager myself.

     Ironically, I’m using social media to do my homework. It’s almost like this course was made to tempt me into procrastinating even more. While everyone else seems to be comfortable with social media, I just want to avoid it more and more every day. Most of my friends accept procrastination as a new normal but it’s obviously a bad habit that is not going away anytime soon. It’s scary to think that an entire generation of kids are going to grow up with these types of social media around them every day. With all the social media around them, how will they manage to get anything done? Or would their productivity just go down the drain? Well, at least I know they won’t be getting bored from constantly opening refrigerator doors. That stuff is terrible for the environment.