Tag: procrastination

Losing Myself in Social Media

StrawberryMushroomLeave a comment

I find procrastination to be my greatest weakness. I am easily susceptible to distractions that provide a sense of comfort and escape from my responsibilities. Thus, over the last couple of months, I have been actively working to diminish the effects of procrastination on my ability to be productive: I would listen to white noise, go to cafes, and distance myself from people who I thought would hinder my focus.

However, upon checking my screen time hours, I was dumbfounded to see that I spend 2-3 hours on social media applications daily. I initially didn’t know how this could be true, as I didn’t feel as though I had been spending so much time on social media. But that is how social media tricks you.

Short scrolls of videos feel so quick and condensed that it is hard to imagine they take up a significant amount of time. But the number of times I would pick up my phone for short scrolling sessions throughout the day would add up to the point where I would be spending more time on platforms with short scrolling videos, such as Instagram or TikTok, than on platforms with longer content, such as YouTube or Netflix.

In the 2-3 daily hours spent scrolling, I could watch a full movie or complete my homework. Yet, I find myself mindlessly consuming insignificant content that I end up quickly forgetting anyway.

Moving forward, I will aim to reduce my time on social media platforms significantly, as I fear that with this current trajectory, I will waste so much time I could be spending in the real world working towards my goals in hobbies or academics. Specifically, I will implement time limits or remove social media applications from my devices entirely. Because a platform designed to bring people together shouldn’t be keeping me isolated from the rest of the world.

Adolescents must confront the challenges of social media dependency – King Street Chronicle

Picture Credit: Google

Covid decides to run it back

navraj22Leave a comment

As of last week, I have now gotten covid two consecutive winter breaks. My take on Covid, at least how it affects me, is that it is more of an inconvenience than anything.

Not being able to taste sucks. It makes food borderline unenjoyable. I have been postmating food from all over trying to get a taste of something, but it all tastes like nothing. It straight-up sucks.

Other than that, I am congested and whatever, which isn’t too bad at this point, and I have brain fog. Maybe I don’t have brain fog but it is a solid excuse to procrastinate.

The most annoying parts are not being able to see my friends, play soccer, or stay caught up on school because I have a LAUNDRY LIST of shit to do, half of which I don’t even understand.

I am kind of concerned about OVS’s covid approach. Without guidelines changing, I predict that school will just become a place where the new variant spreads semi-easily. I hope that school provides online as an option at least, as leaving students who are sick in the dark about their schoolwork makes it very difficult to keep up, and if I hadn’t already had covid I would want to have the option to not have to go to school and get covid.

photo credit: CDC

Squid Games > my homework

navraj22Leave a comment

Last night I got home and figured I’d watch a single episode of Squid Games before I did my homework.

6 hours later, it was 12:22 and I had finished the series. I knew I had homework. Homework I wanted to do. I knew it would take an hour or two, but I just kept watching. I ended up going to sleep at 1:30, throwing to the wayside the two supplemental essays I had planned to draft.

This morning, I absolutely mashed snooze on my alarm. I woke up at 7:30, the time that I need to leave my house to make it to school. I showered and ended up leaving at 7:45 getting here decently late.

The show was so good. I think because of the language barrier, some of the cues that would have made the storyline more obvious didn’t hit me, or the millions of others watching the show right now. I asked a Korean friend about his take on it and he said it was super obvious the whole time, but all of the twists didn’t hit me.

The binge I got caught in was not so good. I wanted to stop watching but I just didn’t. I still got the truly necessary work done but as usual, my head was barely above the water that is missing homework and B’s.

This is something I want to gain more control over, but can’t seem to achieve. I think it might be because I tend to be able to do work very well at the last moment. I have operated this way my whole life with a lot of things, but with certain things, like projects and papers, I know I should be starting earlier.

Especially heading into college, I want to be able to get things done early. I say early, but this definition of early refers to what I would imagine is everyone else’s regular.

I am slowly getting better at managing my time, some days go fine, but oftentimes, say once a week, I push things to the side and get LAZY.

Do you do this?

PC: deadline.com

End of Procrastination

horseman69Leave a comment

I’m a huge procrastinator. No matter how much work is on my plate, I’ll always deal with it the minute before deadline. Last summer, I did the whole summer holiday’s assignment in the last 5 days. 

To procrastinate, you have to know your limits. There must be a point where you just know that you have to get started—or you won’t finish even if you pull an all-nighter. Like 5 days before school starts or every Sunday night. 

Every Saturday night I tell myself to work, but I always end up working my butt off on Sunday night. Every Psychology project, I do it the night before it…

Being the huge procrastinator that I am, I don’t recommend stalling. Change is hard, for me and everyone else. Whenever things become habitual, they stick like super glue—and tearing them off would hurt a lot. 

Why not start little, one day at a time? We have to fight fire with fire, strengthening a new, better habit while damning procrastination. 

Change can be hard, but it’s possible. Even the huge procrastinator I am, I didn’t wait until Sunday to clear my plate of work. Sometimes it’s not just work, work, work if you manage your time rightly. I’m done being lazy.

Photo Credit: collegian.com

Netflix, Tetris Battle, and Online Shopping

rangerthecatLeave a comment

These 3 things will be the death of me.

I am suffering from lack of sleep every day, or at least it seems that way.

I know I only have myself to blame, but seriously, there are WAY too many distractions around these days, especially on the internet.

I recently got a Netflix account, and there are so many good movies and shows that I have wanted to watch, but never have time. So, when is it that I can find time? When I should really be sleeping, of course. And TV shows always have such suspenseful endings, I can hardly quit once I have started.

Tetris battle has been making me crazy. Each game is only 2 minutes, so I always thing to myself, “What’s the harm in one more game? It’s only 2 minutes.” But that keeps escalating, and I play way more than I should. It is the most addicting game in history. Can’t live with it, can’t live without it.

Online shopping is extremely luring because there is no way for me to go out and shop, so online is the only way I can get my fix. I have some extra money at the moment, and I guess I’m just dying to spend it. Shoes are my main obsession… There is no way I could go a day without at least shoe shopping for 10 minutes.

I really need to figure out how to help myself break the curse these things have put me under; there is no way around procrastination. I need a day where I can just sleep for hours and watch Netflix, play tetris battle, and online shop for as long as I want to get it all out of my system.