“Hey, check out this meme! This has me dying, it’s literally me!”
One meme turns into several memes, then progresses into some BuzzFeed and Pinterest posts, and ultimately results in countless wasted hours that could have been productive ones. Admittedly, I am guilty of procrastinating on social media for hours on end, whether I’m trying to study with a group of friends, complete an essay alone or do work with my roommate. As college students, many of us can relate to this situation.
It is certainly appealing to turn to our cellphones and social media when stress is building up, especially at this point of the semester. Much of the student body is anticipating Thanksgiving break and longing to not have piles of assignments sitting there daily.
Although it might be hard to admit, a lot of the pressure of meeting deadlines is self-induced due to the procrastination that stems from cellphone and social media usage. Full-time students have several courses to juggle at once, it is difficult to know what to do first, or if it will even be possible to get everything done.
For this exact reason, putting social media to the side for a little while has a lot of benefits in terms of productivity. The average college student spends eight to 10 hours on their cellphone daily. As a result, many fail to prioritize and find themselves stressing to meet deadlines.
I have found that removing myself from my cellphone and staying off of social media websites for just a couple of hours made me get a surprising amount of work done. The people texting you can wait — the messages will be there when you return.
Understandably, social media and messaging are vital aspects of our lives. Many of us are away from home for an extended period of time during the semester, so some of the only ways to catch up with friends and family members are through these mediums. However, we are in college for a reason. Schoolwork should not be put as secondary. There is no deadline for when you need to text someone back — nor when to look at a meme.
Social media is a great tool to use to take a break from all the work that needs to be completed. Often, an interesting article found online can even be helpful to one of your assignments and you can learn something new.
Like with anything in life, balance and moderation are key. Not only are texting and social media good breaks from the real world, but it is great to see what your best friend from back home is up to, and we should keep mom updated on how we are doing. However, just be sure to prioritize with schoolwork. Between semesters, there is a chance you will find actual downtime to unwind and scroll down your newsfeed on Facebook for hours.
Brad Calendrillo is a sophomore majoring in English.