Procrastination and the Teenagers

By Pauline Miller
Procrastination n no matter what anybody says, every high school student gives into it at one point or another. Although the school year comes equipped with a lengthy to-do list, it’s easy to find distractions, most of which are much more appealing than sitting down and deriving functions for an hour. With the internet only a click away, it’s become easier than ever to become distracted, and through sites like Facebook and Youtube, a ten-minute break can quickly become an hour.
At Princeton High School, the senior class will be the first to tell you that they have been succumbing to procrastination. Jessica Ong ’11, explained that she procrastinates simply because "I don’t want to do homework. I’ll get around to it, but it’s not what I feel like doing, so I just don’t.”
Jeremy Bregman ’11 agrees with Ong, adding “I did my science homework at 2:30 in the morning last night simply because I didn’t feel like doing it.” But the drive to get work completed has decreased not because procrastination has become a hip, new trend, but rather because a good percentage of the senior class has been accepted into college either through early decision or early action, meaning that the hard work that has taken up the past three and a half years is starting to pay off.
Bregman, who was accepted into his first choice college, said, “I already know that I’ll get a good education next year, and it’s much of a relief to not have to worry about the worst that can happen.”
The collective laziness that the seniors are experiencing has a stark contrast with the high-stress world of junior year, which is spent working for AP classes and studying for standardized tests, such as the SAT and ACT. Said Ong, “last year, I’d go home and get my work done right away, but this year it’s all last minute.”
A lot of seniors have become familiar with this last-minute rush. “I feel like I can do work fairly fast, so if I can do the work the day before, I’ll be fine. And having senioritis doesn’t help at all.” Said Justin Bestlity ’11, who went onto describe senioritis as something that “happens because we’ve been here for four years and we’ve gone through the same stuff each year and we all feel like it’s time to relax.”
And while the seniors have decided that it’s time to take a break, the idea of procrastinating seems daunting, even dangerous, to some juniors, who are only halfway through the most demanding year of high school, thanks to standardized tests, vigorous class schedules and the start of the college process. Said Shivani Vikuntam ’12, “As much as I want to procrastinate, I can’t because of the stress of junior year, and all the work, like the SATs, ACTs, and so on. And I want to go on Facebook, but I can’t. I can’t let myself do that.”
Maddy Sverdlove ’12 agrees with Vikuntam. “My main problem [with procrastination] is that I get distracted by the internet,” She said. But Sverdlove has found a way to combat this problem by staying in the school library after school to get work done. “I don’t like the computers [at the school.] I don’t want to go on them, so I’m not attracted to the things that can distract me.” Sverdlove also schedules her work based on the amount of activity on the internet. “I find I can do work much later in the night because people aren’t online and not a lot is happening on Facebook.”
Juniors and seniors aren’t alone in the struggle between getting work done and just doing what they want. One freshman who wished to remain anonymous commented that when it comes to procrastination, “I don’t purposely do it, I just try to get anything that isn’t work out of the way, and then I get the work done.” But it isn’t just busying himself with work that contributes to his procrastination. “I do try to avoid work until I have no time.” he admitted.
Seniors who had perfected the art of running on four hours of sleep for their junior year are taking the time to nurture their bodies instead of over-work their minds this year. Mike Hellstern ’11 described a habit that he has formed while trying to get work done this year; “I’ll sit down to do my homework, and then decide that I’m hungry. After I eat, I feel like I need to work out, so I’ll go do that. Then I’ll feel like I need to shower, so I’ll do that, and by then I’ll be ready to try and get some work done…but that doesn’t always happen.”
Emma Kostenbader ’11 also admits that she’s been choosing her health over her workload this year, “I’ll put off my work until later, and then later comes and I’d rather sleep.” Senior Katherine Rizk succumbs to a similar problem. “I just eat instead of working most of the time,” she said.
Chris Floor, a guidance counselor at Princeton High School, works with students who put off work for too long daily. He explained that it’s not just a problem for high school students, and when it comes to procrastination, “all human beings suffer from it. Procrastination is a fairly important issue for a large percentage of the population of the U.S., regardless of age.” Procrastination can be particularly damaging when it comes to grades and potential, because it sucks up the time that should be used to finish tasks of a very high priority, like projects and essays. “The results of procrastination often look like inability, and it’s hard to tell it apart. When [students] rush on their work, [teachers] see poorer quality, and they can’t distinguish between whether the student just rushed or if it’s because they aren’t able to do it.”
A huge problem that seems to serve only to fuel procrastination is the internet. “If you have friends [available] on Facebook chat, it’s even worse. You can stay there for hours talking.” Said Bestlity. And it’s not just Facebook that’s causing problems. Isaac Howell ’11, whose vice is videos, said, “I go on Youtube to play music, which helps me stay awake, but sometimes n a lot of the time n I get distracted.”
Sophomore Leigh Honigman also stated that she “like[s] to poop around on Facebook,” and enjoys other time-consuming wonders found on the internet. “I’m a huge unrelatedcaptions.com fan. It’s a blog where people post pictures with words on them which have nothing to do with the picture whatsoever n it can amuse me for hours.”
But would absence of internet have any affect on the procrastination problem? “Probably not,” said Grace Hayes-Larson ’11, “I feel like no matter what I’d find a way to distract myself.” Perhaps the problem is that after all of these years, work has become less important to the seniors, who already have one foot out the door. Said Ong, “It’s our last year of high school, and I want to relax, but I have to keep my grades at a certain point. But sometimes it [feels] like I’ve worked so hard these past few years that studying during this final year is less stressful in comparison.”