Revenge Procrastination: What is it and How Can We Avoid it?
Everyone has heard the term “Procrastination” however the term “Revenge Procrastination” is not something we hear everyday. Revenge Procrastination is not something new, it has just been recently coined. “ ‘Revenge bedtime procrastination’’ ” describes the decision to sacrifice sleep for leisure time that is driven by a daily schedule lacking in free time.” (Suni & Dimitriu, 2023) I’m sure everyone has experienced this at least once, where instead of sleeping, you watch one more episode of the show you were watching while counting how much sleep you have left before you have to wake up. Bedtime Procrastination is common, but where did the term “Revenge” come from? The word “revenge” added to bedtime procrastination actually was popularized on social media, specifically from a translation of an expression in Chinese (Suni & Dimitriu, 2023). Chinese citizens wanted to get “revenge” on their busy daytime schedules with little free time by sacrificing sleep to create free time. Although initially created in China, it quickly spread throughout the world because of the relatability.
One major quality that every revenge bedtime procrastination has is that they all want more sleep and fully acknowledge that delaying sleep will only cause them to feel more tired the next day, this is called intention-behavior gap (Suni & Dimitriu, 2023). Despite this, why do people still procrastinate sleeping? Currently there are still arguments about the exact reason this happens, however there are two common arguments that come up; The first being about self control and the second being genetic. The argument of self-control says that humans lack self control at the end of the day after going through a long day of self-control. This lack of self control with little free time combined turns into sleep procrastination. The genetic argument says that some people have the “night owl” chronotype and are forced to adapt to the “early bird ‘’ lifestyle of society. This makes them more active during the night and procrastinate sleep (Suni & Dimitriu, 2023).
With the rise of the format of short-video content on social media, bedtime procrastination only becomes worse. Almost all social media has some form of short-video content. This kind of content is designed to make people engaged and interested for as long as possible. For example, tik tok. “[T]here’s an ongoing dopamine drip when using TikTok. The brain grows to desire this ongoing dopamine, sometimes referred to as a dopamine addiction, causing people to continue turning to the platform.” (Arzt & Abulhosen, 2023) This exacerbates procrastination as people, such as me, will find themselves scrolling non-stop through tik tok before they sleep.
However, this is not completely unavoidable; the key is to develop a healthy sleep routine. Doing activities such as reading a book, not touching a device for 30 minutes before you sleep, and most importantly, keeping a constant bedtime and time you wake up. Doing so for a long time can form a habit, which will eventually lead to you automatically doing these things. Overall, with the stressful daytime of work or studies, it is inevitable that people are going to feel stressed, however, it is important to recognize that getting “revenge” by taking away sleep for leisure time will ultimately lead to a cycle of bad sleeping habits and leading to more stress buildup.
Reference:
Arzt, N. (2023, July 3). Tiktok addiction: Causes, signs, & how to stop. Choosing Therapy. https://www.choosingtherapy.com/tiktok-addiction/#:~:text=Like%20gambling%20addiction%2C%20there’s%20an,continue%20turning%20to%20the%20platform.
Bahl, R. (2018). Man on his phone in Bed. Blue Light from Your Phone May Be Permanently Damaging Your Eyes. healthline. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://www.healthline.com/health-news/phone-may-be-damaging-your-eyes.
Dawson, M., & Syda Productions. (2020). Women reading before going to bed. Reading a book before bed will give you a mental health boost. New York Post. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://nypost.com/2020/03/07/reading-a-book-before-bed-will-give-you-a-mental-health-boost/.
Mousigian, E. (2024). Bedtime Procrastination . Your ‘phone in bed time’ is just revenge bedtime procrastination. The Michigan Daily. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://www.michigandaily.com/opinion/your-phone-in-bed-time-is-just-revenge-bedtime-procrastination/.
Suni, E. (2023, December 8). Revenge bedtime procrastination: Definition & psychology. Sleep Foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene/revenge-bedtime-procrastination
