It starts in the morning… no, actually, the night before. Your mind is riddled with guilt while you scroll down your Instagram feed. Nothing is going on in your mind while you watch that “life hack” video that you won’t turn off, because in the back of your mind, you know that it might be of use someday. Finally, you say to yourself that is it for today. I am going to get up early tomorrow, and prepare for my midterm that was announced a week ago. You had the whole week to give it a start, but you could not, owing to some “understandable” reasons.
Since social media has penetrated so deeply into our lives, we might as well stop calling it a problem. Online accounts are inseparable from people, and it is not wrong to call them an extension of one’s personality. It is with their existence that we have information all around us at all times. This is where the famous “What does a man with power want?” scenario comes into play. We have all watched so much content, that all we want is more content. Before you even know it, all that content becomes a distraction, although the word “distraction” falls short of describing its potential, and effect on our lives.
The last two weeks were quite hectic, as students had midterm exams. We’ve all made that rookie mistake of not doing our class readings throughout the course, and leaving everything for the day before the exam. But it’s not a rookie mistake if you repeat it every semester. It is easy to get caught up on social media platforms, and waste time without realizing, followed by procrastinating on things that really matter. They’re all great tools to socialize and share information, but if you tune in just to show your loyalty to your favourite YouTuber while feeding your brain with their innumerable “try not to laugh” videos, you might want to change that.
My point is, we are living in a time when the supply of content is exceeding our demand, and if you try to keep up with it, you are compromising your priorities, and your education is just one of them. Besides, if you ask yourself with complete honesty, you will realize that you don’t need it. In reality, it’s just the impulse to reach out to your phone when you do not have anything to do. The best way to curb it is to let yourself engage in more natural activities, and do things that challenge you on both a physical and mental level. Go for a walk, work out, practise a hobby that makes you feel fulfilled and confident, or even volunteer for a cause you support with as much dedication as you give your social media profiles. For the record, checking Facebook does not count as a hobby.
It is never too late to change yourself, I agree. But, you must realize it is getting later every day. You have to decide by yourself that you will not waste yet another weekend doing nothing productive. Manage your priorities, rather than complaining that things are not going the way you want them to. That way, you can bring some direction to your life and — guess what — you get to keep your act together the night before the midterm too! Isn’t that cool?
