Stop Seeking Distractions
Distractions, easily the worst thing for college students everywhere. No matter what we are doing, who we are with, or the serious amount of homework that needs to be done, distractions always finds a way to trouble us from actually finishing our pile of assignments.
When I first started my interview process, I expected majority of the answers to be cell phones are the biggest distractions. I ended up getting a variety of answers including, “alcohol,” from Marquette senior Mihir Patel, “people I know,” sophomore Arpan Patel, and “daydreaming,” from freshmen Samia Haseeb. With the wide variety of distractions I continued my interview with asking “why do we allow ourselves to be easily distracted by these things.” In reference to studying, freshmen Samia Haseeb said that “The fact that I’m very uninterested in what I’m studying for makes it much easier to think about other things.” Freshmen Monica Patel, who said that her cell phone is her biggest distraction said it is so easy for me because “I have FOMO dude.” FOMO is a common phrase which means “fear of missing out.” She continues to tell me that when she is doing other assignments she is thinking about her cell phone, thinking what other people are doing or her notifications, in which once she was not distracted and she ended up getting seven missed calls from her mom. Yikes.
As I continued to interview people and get a feel for the distractions in college students life, I realized that unknowningly or knowingly, distractions creep up on us. When I asked “how do you think you would be without the distractions in your life,” I received responses like “productive,” said Arpan Patel, “I would have better grades but no social life,” said sophomore Twinkle Dutta, and “motivated and more intelligent,” said Mihir Patel. When asked the question “why is it so easy for you to get distracted,” I received answers like, “It’s sleep, Anji,” (probably should have known that) said Mira Pasawala, “I can’t help it,” said Arpan Patel, and “I feel the need to snap people back when they snap me,” said Twinkle Dutta. With this insight, I quickly realized that in college, having that freedom and independence we have on a campus comparing to living at home, we have more time on our hands. The quote “Idle hands are the devil’s handiwork,” has never been more true. When something is boring or when we have nothing to do, or no motivation to do anything, these distractions creep up on us and fill this void with something more entertaining. Something that gives us instant satsificaition in the short run rather the long run.
I ended the interview with asking two questions: “honestly, how long can you go without your biggest distractions,” and “how do you think you can overcome your distractions?” In reference to the first question I averaged the responses with an hour. Which makes sense, I myself can not go one hour without procastinating or wasting my time doing something irrelevant when I am not motivated to accomplish my given task. Samia Haseeb told me that the steps she could take to overcome her distraction is that she could “actively study, talk out loud, and distract myself from my distractions.” Which I think would be relevant to all us college students, hey at least without distractions we would actually get sleep at night rather than relying on those daily power naps.