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Social media is still rapidly growing as a daily part of human interaction for a very wide age group. Most activity on sites such as Facebook involves personal communication and browsing websites, but due to its massive popularity, social media has also become an important communication tool among professionals to a point where in some cases it is almost a necessity. Calvin Mann (2013) states, “After a few months away, I've been forced back to Facebook. It's a shame that it's become such a necessity”. Calvin (2013) observes that social media truly has become a necessity for daily communication and keeping up to date with important events. These options in the aforementioned digital world do not belong in a school setting. According Mrs. Storaska (2013), a programming and computer science teacher, “Parents your students cannot engage in their classroom activities nor learn effectively (as much research indicates) when connected to their cell phone playing games, texting or socializing etc. even though I heartedly support technology in the schools. The students have been informed with great clarity on this lab policy! Infractions will result in an immediate write-up. Phones have a place in society but not in class given the society will now live and work within!” There is a clear effort here to stop distractions from entering the classroom, but if students are trying to use devices such as those mentioned by Mrs. Storaska (2013) in the classroom, then what is stopping them at home? Not very much according to Andy S. (2010), “I have been putting off writing another article for a good two weeks just because I am lazy and on vacation right now. The truth is that I have had numerous opportunities to write when I have been doing nothing but playing video games, but procrastination got the best of me.” Andy (2010) even goes on to recognize
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Unfortunately, procrastination is not always a matter of choice. It has been described a many number of ways, but I feel Dr. Pickhart's (2009) comparison is the most accurate, “In the most severe cases of procrastination that I have seen, those that become seriously disabling because 'nothing important gets done,' I have sometimes advised viewing this persistently self-defeating behavior as similar to an addiction”. Procrastination can easily become a serious issue due to it's great temptation. Often times overwhelmed students looking for an escape from a persistent deadline will look towards social media, online videos, or something of that likeness to try and ignore the dark shadow cast over them by an assignment. Perhaps the description of the effects an assignment can have on students was too extreme in that last sentence, however I have personally experienced something akin to a dark glaze over my thoughts. At times it felt as if a noisy monkey was shouting on my back, but when I would finally turn in the assignment, a massive weight would lift off my shoulders. It would feel as if that obnoxious primate had been removed from me, placed on the ground, and punted through a field goal by the clicking of a submit button or handing an assignment in. Of course experiences will vary from person to person, but if a monkey was on your back and watching a cat play on a keyboard meant you could forget about it for a few minutes, could you see yourself letting that be a habit? There are plenty of high schoolers who would jump at any opportunity, almost all of which can be accessed on the same computer used to work on homework and other tasks. I personally have irritatingly consistent difficulties with keeping myself on task when Netflix is open in the background. “I will just look at it when I get stumped” I often think to myself when trying to justify wasting time If every distraction in the digital world were placed
Unfortunately, procrastination is not always a matter of choice. It has been described a many number of ways, but I feel Dr. Pickhart's (2009) comparison is the most accurate, “In the most severe cases of procrastination that I have seen, those that become seriously disabling because 'nothing important gets done,' I have sometimes advised viewing this persistently self-defeating behavior as similar to an addiction”. Procrastination can easily become a serious issue due to it's great temptation. Often times overwhelmed students looking for an escape from a persistent deadline will look towards social media, online videos, or something of that likeness to try and ignore the dark shadow cast over them by an assignment. Perhaps the description of the effects an assignment can have on students was too extreme in that last sentence, however I have personally experienced something akin to a dark glaze over my thoughts. At times it felt as if a noisy monkey was shouting on my back, but when I would finally turn in the assignment, a massive weight would lift off my shoulders. It would feel as if that obnoxious primate had been removed from me, placed on the ground, and punted through a field goal by the clicking of a submit button or handing an assignment in. Of course experiences will vary from person to person, but if a monkey was on your back and watching a cat play on a keyboard meant you could forget about it for a few minutes, could you see yourself letting that be a habit? There are plenty of high schoolers who would jump at any opportunity, almost all of which can be accessed on the same computer used to work on homework and other tasks. I personally have irritatingly consistent difficulties with keeping myself on task when Netflix is open in the background. “I will just look at it when I get stumped” I often think to myself when trying to justify wasting time If every distraction in the digital world were placed