Author and blogger, Tim Urban in his 2016 TED talk, “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator”, argues that everyone is a procrastinator. Urban’s purpose is to explain in order to prove his final point that everyone is a procrastinator to some degree. Urban explains to the general public everyone is a procrastinator. He is surely right about this; that everyone, to some degree, procrastinates because, as he may not be aware, recent studies have shown that 20% of the United States population are chronic procrastinators. With procrastination also comes many bad effects such as controlling of emotions such as feelings of guilt and stress. These can be caused by the loss of concentration and the use of technology. In Tim Urban’s 2016 TEDTalk,
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By definition, according to the Cambridge University Press (2017), procrastination is “the act of delaying something that must be done”. In other words, procrastination is postponing or putting something off (something of some importance). According to Joseph Ferrari PhD, a professor of phycology at DePaul University in Chicago, “everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator” (p. 1). This ties into the main idea that everyone procrastinates to some degree. There are numerous contributing factors to today’s procrastinator- the most prevalent factor to procrastination is technology. As Joseph Ferrari (2010), PhD, an international researcher in the study of procrastination and a professor of psychology at DePaul University says, “technology today makes it easier to procrastinate” (p. 2). Ferrari uses the example of the snooze button do demonstrate this idea as he explains that the snooze button is “designed to give us more time, yet we have gained nothing. We still delay.” (p.2). In other words, the alarm clock is something we use to be ready and on time, but snooze button is something we use as a means for us to delay until the last minute as we force ourselves begin that next …show more content…
As Ferrari said, 20% of the American population are chronic procrastinators, but according to a study to examined by a student attending the University of York and a freelance journalist, Milana Knezevic (2012), over 70% of students exhibit procrastination. Through Knezevic’s article, Dr. Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne and an expert on human motivation and on why people but things off, says, “in your early 20s you’re still developing your pre-frontal cortex, home of the will power” (p. 1). The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for things such as planning, personality development, and many other complex behaviors. Knezevic uses his finding to argue that the “closer [someone] is to temptation of fun, the more likely [they] are to indulge. In other words, when given the opportunity to do something else more entertaining, the person is more likely to push off their important tasks to have fun. Knezevic also goes on to say, “once concentration has been broken… it takes 15 minutes to get back into the “work” state of mind.” (p.2). However, after losing your train of thought, it takes a while to get back to finishing that task. This ties into my point that concentration is another cause for procrastination. In the end, everyone procrastinates to some degree. Procrastination can be caused by the use of technology and the loss of concentration.
By definition, according to the Cambridge University Press (2017), procrastination is “the act of delaying something that must be done”. In other words, procrastination is postponing or putting something off (something of some importance). According to Joseph Ferrari PhD, a professor of phycology at DePaul University in Chicago, “everyone procrastinates, but not everyone is a procrastinator” (p. 1). This ties into the main idea that everyone procrastinates to some degree. There are numerous contributing factors to today’s procrastinator- the most prevalent factor to procrastination is technology. As Joseph Ferrari (2010), PhD, an international researcher in the study of procrastination and a professor of psychology at DePaul University says, “technology today makes it easier to procrastinate” (p. 2). Ferrari uses the example of the snooze button do demonstrate this idea as he explains that the snooze button is “designed to give us more time, yet we have gained nothing. We still delay.” (p.2). In other words, the alarm clock is something we use to be ready and on time, but snooze button is something we use as a means for us to delay until the last minute as we force ourselves begin that next …show more content…
As Ferrari said, 20% of the American population are chronic procrastinators, but according to a study to examined by a student attending the University of York and a freelance journalist, Milana Knezevic (2012), over 70% of students exhibit procrastination. Through Knezevic’s article, Dr. Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne and an expert on human motivation and on why people but things off, says, “in your early 20s you’re still developing your pre-frontal cortex, home of the will power” (p. 1). The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for things such as planning, personality development, and many other complex behaviors. Knezevic uses his finding to argue that the “closer [someone] is to temptation of fun, the more likely [they] are to indulge. In other words, when given the opportunity to do something else more entertaining, the person is more likely to push off their important tasks to have fun. Knezevic also goes on to say, “once concentration has been broken… it takes 15 minutes to get back into the “work” state of mind.” (p.2). However, after losing your train of thought, it takes a while to get back to finishing that task. This ties into my point that concentration is another cause for procrastination. In the end, everyone procrastinates to some degree. Procrastination can be caused by the use of technology and the loss of concentration.