Why do we procrastinate?
By dsuh2010
@dsuh2010 (23)
United States
July 3, 2009 12:06pm CST
I assume that every person at some point in their life has procrastinated, but why are we compelled to become lazy at some points in our lives? Has it resulted from the technology that forces us to wander off into the internet? Has human efficency been greater before the invention of the television? It seems that although everyone has their time of hard work, there is some time where they spend for fun or for wasting time. Also, do you think that it is a need to have fun or would you consider it a luxury? Fun does not accomplish much, rather in some cases, it may be a waste of time and could possibly be detrimental if you consider risky behaviors of fun. I do not mean the fun of exploring a book or academia, but fun as in going out with friends, playing games and/or having parties. I think it was Thoreau who stated that we should not have too many friends, rather we should have friends that should fufill a purpose in a person's life.
Also, do you think that listening to the news is a form of procrastination? What is the purpose of news unless you deal with the media directly or if you are working in a financial sector? The news of other people should not be relevant to our lives? Rather, the news seems to be a brain-filler, in a way. Thoreau in his Walden, stated that local news is really just petty talk and gossip, which really has no insightful meaning. There are some news that may affect us directly, but most news has no relation to our life.
If you could answer even one of my questions, I would be delighted to have a small conversation about these ideas.
7 responses
@meliora (54)
• United States
3 Jul 09
Fun is a form of need because the things that we find to be enjoyable are directly related to our needs. We find pleasure in social interaction for evolutionary reasons, for example.
News isn't just a brain filler. The thing with Thoreau is that, while on walden lake, he completely disregarded and took for granted the role that commuity plays in survival and accomplishment of our species. Being informed about important events of the community is a part of involvement with said community.
Spending every waking hour toward the persuit of utility, while seemingly admirable, is misguided. Just becaue you don't understand the function of a certain part of your nature (i.e. the compulsion toward fun) doesn't meant that it is devoid of any useful funtion. People are whole beings and cannot be stripped down to their mere usefulness without dire reprecussions.
As far a sprocrastination goes: people don't always procrastinate out of lazyness. They often procrastinate due to insecurity in their own ailities.
@dsuh2010 (23)
• United States
3 Jul 09
Wow, this is a very intriguing response. I am really talking in the theoretical, pure sense, but is pleasure really a need? There is a difference between pleasure and happiness/joy, and while pleasure is a drive possibly based upon our subconscious to fufill a desire, thus making pleasure something that is forced/involuntary. Yet, happiness is definitely a need because we need to find joy in order to remain sane to an extent. I am assuming that you believe in the theory of evolution. Although I do not believe in natural Darwinian evolution, I believe that there is a social evolution, that really is making us devolve. In your last sentence, you stated that we procrastinate because of our own shortcomings, which implies that we are almost doubting progress because humanity tries to create progress. This creates a drift from progress as we begin to doubt ourselves. In terms of utility of humanity, is it not possible that humanity uses fun as a way of procrastination? Therefore, if we need fun, is it not true that we are forced to procrastinate? Also, laziness to me is derived from insecurity and from being afraid of the results.
Sorry about everything being so muddled.
I would like to hear your response to my statements and opinions.
@Wizzywig (7847)
•
3 Jul 09
Umm, I'll tell you tomorrow............... 
Sometimes I think its because we really dont want to do the task at all ... we just dont like it so we can't bring ourselves to do it. Also, unless we have had some life-changing experience we all believe that we have a tomorrow and that there is plenty of time. However, a lot of people will look back later in their lives and wish they had accomplished more and had more fun.
I think it is vital to have fun, otherwise, what is the point in life if we do not enjoy it? Therefore, time spent having fun is not wasted. We need 'fun' to relax and relieve the stresses of life. If I did not have a sense of humour and do silly stuff I would not get through the tough times in life. In that sense, the things I do are serving a purpose. As far as I'm concerned, friends do fulfil a purpose in my life simply by being friends.
With regard to the local news, maybe it is just an extension of gossip but, if something happens in my local area it may well have some impact on my life. I suppose its nice for people to have their achievements recognised in some small way in a local newspaper and stories of (for example) thieves posing as bogus officials to gain entry to people's property, make us more aware and, consequently less vulnerable to such con artists.
By being part of the human race (for better or worse) we are bound to be affected by at least some of the things that are happening in the world around us.
You offer some interesting and thought provoking ideas here!
Sometimes I think its because we really dont want to do the task at all ... we just dont like it so we can't bring ourselves to do it. Also, unless we have had some life-changing experience we all believe that we have a tomorrow and that there is plenty of time. However, a lot of people will look back later in their lives and wish they had accomplished more and had more fun.
I think it is vital to have fun, otherwise, what is the point in life if we do not enjoy it? Therefore, time spent having fun is not wasted. We need 'fun' to relax and relieve the stresses of life. If I did not have a sense of humour and do silly stuff I would not get through the tough times in life. In that sense, the things I do are serving a purpose. As far as I'm concerned, friends do fulfil a purpose in my life simply by being friends.
With regard to the local news, maybe it is just an extension of gossip but, if something happens in my local area it may well have some impact on my life. I suppose its nice for people to have their achievements recognised in some small way in a local newspaper and stories of (for example) thieves posing as bogus officials to gain entry to people's property, make us more aware and, consequently less vulnerable to such con artists.
By being part of the human race (for better or worse) we are bound to be affected by at least some of the things that are happening in the world around us.
You offer some interesting and thought provoking ideas here! @dsuh2010 (23)
• United States
3 Jul 09
lol to your first comment :).
Why do you think that a life changing experience brings us to realize this time constraint?
But, if we do enjoy the time procrastinating, and fun is usually enjoyable, isn't fun almost a way of procrastination? So, in that sense do you think that all people have to procrastinate in order to remain sane? When we are procrastinating, we usually do relax during this time period and any other time, there is usually an increased stress level.
The local news is important if you feel that community is important as a function of your life; for most, it is. Yet, in major metropolitan areas (ie. New York), there really is no time for such stories because of the fast paced lifestyle. Do you think that it is possible that for some, news may not be as important if safety is not a major issue? I state this in the theoretical sense, of course because there really is no pure safety on earth.
@BlueGoblin (1829)
• United States
4 Jul 09
I think the answer is bad habits. We get into bad habits and just get lazy,
@my_name_is_coco (4334)
• Philippines
4 Jul 09
we tend to put off things that we have to do because we don't feel like doing it.also,we believe that we have a lot of time in the world.with lots of time we can procrastinate on things that we want to do and work on the things we need later.some people hate doing things that aren't fun or interesting for them,that's why they procrastinate.
@Sweetchariot (1718)
• United States
4 Jul 09
I used to do everything right away, with the idea that when it was complete I could then relax and feel good about everything that I had finished. However, after many years I realized that there was always something to do...nothing was ever completely finished...there was always a 'something' that came up. Therefore, I was never enjoying life, instead I was spending my time trying to complete one thing after another. I finally learned that there is a tomorrow, and what I can't do today, I can do then... I needed to let go of the idea that it had to get done that exact moment, and instead enjoy each day and not waste it on a goal that will never be completed. Unfortunately, this does lead to procrastination, and it can become habit forming to put things off until the next day. However, when the deadline is near, it does get done, and we were able to enjoy life at the same time.
Fun is what life should be about..to laugh, love, and live it to the fullest. We should not be analyzing what purpose our friends or the fun things we do play in our lives. Just trying to find that purpose would take all the fun out of it.
Local news is always good for the community, if it is done with the idea of connecting to each other, and making the community better. Anything else but that can be conceived as a negative force we can live without.
@gadget_lover (132)
• India
4 Jul 09
In my opinion, we procrastinate those things where there is no sense of emergency. If there is a deadline for a particular activity, we try to finish it within time (ofcourse depending upon the practicalities).
I watch news to get updated myself about what is happening around the world. But as you said, sometimes I feel "Why am I watching ?". For this reason, I try to reduce my viewing time so that I can spend it on useful activities.
@mreducator (93)
• Philippines
4 Jul 09
We procrastinate because we love doing more another thing than another. We are not naturally lazy, but for example in my case, whenever I am in front of the computer, I can't help it but browse mylot, facebook, and any other sites, instead of doing what I suppose to do instead of surfing other things. And besides, the fact that we know that there are still time for it, we procrastinate.
In my case, I don't do it anymore. It wrecked me a lot.
