Procrastination to Graduation

By Josh White, Spring 2012

Ok, let us be honest, how hard do we really work in graduate school? I am a library junky. I force myself to be in the library because I know when I am at home there are far too many distractions. Yet, even when in a setting of relative isolation, I am really good at finding ways to not complete the task at hand, or at least to prolong the process. In fact, as I am writing this article, I am waiting for a pause in my thought process to check Facebook and a whole slew of quick links I have on my laptop and my smart phone.

Why do I, or why do we, put off work that needs to get done for a delayed gratification called graduation day? So what is going on here? As a young psychologist I try to advocate a "know thyself" mentality, so what am I doing? Does it mean that my unconscious thinks immediate gratification is more important? Probably, let's roll with this hypothesis. When assignments have no immediate consequence, no immediate deadline (i.e. dissertation), no immediate relevance, or are just straight busy work (i.e. stats, sorry); I tend to find myself looking at something other than my work with little recollection of clicking on that link. On the other hand, is procrastination sometimes a conscious process? I say yes. Sometimes, or most of the time, depending on who is reading this, it is more entertaining to find about a new fad, look at potential apartments I can afford once I graduate, or to watch a funny video than to do work on assignments.

Let me be clear. I am not saying we do not work hard as graduate students. Everyone I know works so hard that at the end of a week when I ask, "How are you doing?" I get a glossy eyed stare, a sideways glance, as if they are wondering if anyone is following them, and an eventual mutter of "Making it." Nor am I saying that we procrastinate all the time. This article is just a fun exploration of how the internet can be both a source of entertainment, valuable information, and be a tool for self-deception and procrastination.

What are we looking at on those inter-tubes? To see someone-who-we-knew-four-years- ago's opinion about the latest internet meme, to voice an opinion about a political issue de jour, or to read article headlines that may be interesting, but in reality, we do not have time to read the entire thing. Better yet, I like to watch the latest and greatest "Sh*t people say" or pictures of cute animals. If you did not know, bunny competitions are huge in Europe, check it out. For me, it has gotten so bad that it has become a hobby to open news articles just to look at the comments section. I do not suggest doing this.

Why do I, or why do we, put off work that needs to get done for a delayed gratification called graduation day? So what is going on here? As a young psychologist I try to advocate a "know thyself" mentality, so what am I doing? Does it mean that my unconscious thinks immediate gratification is more important? Probably, let's roll with this hypothesis. When assignments have no immediate consequence, no immediate deadline (i.e. dissertation), no immediate relevance, or are just straight busy work (i.e. stats, sorry); I tend to find myself looking at something other than my work with little recollection of clicking on that link. On the other hand, is procrastination sometimes a conscious process? I say yes. Sometimes, or most of the time, depending on who is reading this, it is more entertaining to find about a new fad, look at potential apartments I can afford once I graduate, or to watch a funny video than to do work on assignments.

It seems that, depending on the work, there are a multitude of reasons to do and to not do work that needs to get done so that one day we can walk down that aisle and get a certificate that says you are awesome. So, what are we to do about procrastination to become efficient graduate student machines? I say nothing; graduate school is hard. Who cares if you get a chuckle over watching a bunny do a long distance jump? Seriously, funny stuff, I recommend it. Just consider it self-care. But, like most things, moderation is the key. When a deadline is approaching I recommend disconnecting, it will be there when you get back.

Yep, it happened, I just played Words with Friends while writing this article, do not worry, I got 42 points, so it was worth it.

My top 5 internet procrastination activities:

What are your favorite procrastination websites?