There are few experiences more universal to high school students than sitting down to toil through a night’s worth of homework, only to spend many hours doing anything that isn’t school assignments. Whether the distraction is spontaneous cleaning, or just scrolling through social media, it has now pushed the work off until much later in the night than anticipated, and completing it may suddenly seem impossible.
Procrastination is detrimental to many students, and it can be caused by a variety of factors. “I think there is willful procrastination and then sometimes there is procrastination due to other issues. Whether it’s anxiety or a family issue,” English teacher Anne-Marie Dominguez said.
For some students, getting behind on assignments is an effect of BSM’s block schedule, which means students don’t have a certain class every single day. “Without having a class every day. I’m just like,’ Oh, I couldn’t do it the next day for homework’ so I push it off and then I’m like, ‘oh, it’s not that much work.’ So I push it off more,” senior Mae Reddy said.
Without having a class every day. I’m just like,’ Oh, I couldn’t do it the next day for homework’ so I push it off and then I’m like, ‘oh, it’s not that much work.’ So I push it off more
— Mae Reddy
After the procrastination has already set in, it’s easy to get even more behind when students see how much work they now have to do. In some cases, the addition of more work just adds to the stress and subtracts from the motivation to complete the work. “Procrastination sneaks in when people seem overwhelmed by how much they have to do,” Dominguez said.
But by far the easiest way to get behind on your homework is distractive technology like phones, computers, and television. For many people, it’s so much easier to spend three hours watching mindless videos, than to spend just an hour doing an assignment. “It’s hard for me to prioritize what needs to get done first, especially when there are things like my phone and YouTube and other things that distract me from my work,” junior Al Brown said.
The most simple way to eliminate procrastination from your life is to get rid of any distractions. “Put their phone away. Put it on silent, turn off notifications. Just do things in chunks. And take breaks when you have to,” Dominguez said.