Time management is one of the most important skills for a student to survive the harsh realities and stress caused by high school.

Students must be able to learn how to manage the hefty load of homework, projects and essays that come from demanding and rigorous courses.

Procrastination and bombardment of distractions, such as video games and social media, have affected students nationwide.

Several students said the area they struggle most with in time management is reading and essays. They said they usually put it off because it seems so exceedingly long compared to the time they have, so they would rather not do it.

Tim Pychyl and Fuschia Sirois, professors of psychology at Carleton and Sheffield universities, conducted a study which found students tend to push away tasks to avoid the negative associations and disinterest that come with performing the task such as boredom, anxiety, self-doubt and frustration.

Language arts teacher Jon Karschnik said overscheduling is a common problem students face today as they feel pressure to take more rigorous, time-consuming AP courses.

“It was night and day compared to what high school was when I went to high school. We didn’t even have AP courses where I was,” said Karschnik.

“They have a lot more content, lot more to study, lot more to do,” said Karschnik.

Several students said they primarily procrastinate for two reasons: technology and just pure laziness.

“I don’t want to do work right when I get home. You get distracted by being on your phone and you know Netflix and all of that, and so I just end up doing everything else, which I could do later on at night, before I do my homework,” said sophomore Ashna Gupta.

Gupta said she started to procrastinate in ninth grade because there were a lot more classes and more homework. She said she didn’t want to do it and would “just wing everything.”

While there are different types of procrastination, the most prominent is irrational procrastination. Irrational procrastination is the intentional delay of action despite knowing that one will be worse off later on.

Causes of irrational procrastination include technological addictions such as social media. Students constantly check their social media and cell phones for entertainment purposes, as well as notifications and messages from friends.

In the present day, the heavier reliance on technology creates more accessible distractions right in the palm of your hand.

Because technology is so prevalent in this generation, high school life is not just purposeful for academics, but also “keeping up your social life and maintaining a presence throughout school and social media,” said Gupta.

This new aspect of technology has veered many students off to procrastinate and put activities to the side until the last minute.

Sophomore Nikki Tanguay says she is one of the few people she knows who has good time management skills.

Tanguay plays varsity softball and junior varsity lacrosse, and said she often comes home exhausted due to sports games and practices.

However, Tanguay said, “my time management skills have gotten better because I use the time that I have wisely, so that I am able to go to bed at a decent time instead of staying up late to do my work because I procrastinated.”

But Tanguay said she uses the time she has to get work done because she also values her time to get things done just as much as she loves sports, and has a positive correlation attached to work rather than a negative one.

Karschnik said students need to learn how to prioritize their work and learn what is most important whether that be through a to-do list or an agenda.

Tanguay said she agreed with this, but also said “students just need to get off their phones!”

Going through high school, many students have been told to beware of catching “senioritis.”

Google defines this condition as a “supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance.”

So how common is senioritis?

Several seniors at school said they believe they’re afflicted with it.

This leaves many people questioning, what is the real cause of this so-called disease?

For many seniors and teachers at the school, the answers seem to vary between college, time management and procrastination.

According to graduation coach Chip Flemmer, senioritis is certainly real.

“It tends to present itself in most seniors; however, the level of severity varies from those who are able to cope very well with only minor symptoms all the way to those who are so bad that their symptoms have symptoms and they are extremely contagious,” said Flemmer.

“Please be careful hanging around those students,” he said.

Flemmer said the signs and symptoms may vary depending on how bad their case of senioritis is.

“More minor case symptoms may involve the loss of desire to attend school, level of homework procrastination being at an all-time high or being seen more in the hallway than in your classroom,” Flemmer added in an email.

Flemmer continued: A more severe case may include symptoms of, “heavy sweats when you walk into the building, breaking out into hives at just the sound of your teacher’s voice, sprinting to your car in the parking lot and trying to elude Officer Dove and Coach T. Wayne Smith, or spending more time on the trail or Publix than in the classroom.”

If a student is afflicted with senioritis, Flemmer said, “the smell of Chick Fil-A or sitting in their drive thru has been known to trigger it as well.”

The occurrence of senioritis has been said to be more prevalent in the spring of senior year, but has also been known to creep into the system in early fall as well.

“I really did not think senioritis was a thing until about second semester of this year,” said senior Mary Kate Bohr.
“After winter break, and once I figured out what college I would be attending, I really caught senioritis. It suddenly became extremely hard to get out of bed and go to school”.

Several students have said that once they find out they are accepted into a university, their work ethic will just plummet, and the motivation to keep good grades goes out the window.

Flemmer says that the causes tend to vary as well, but some of the main ones he has seen have been early acceptance or rejection into the university of your choice, too many or too few hours at your job or if your peers all have online classes.

Many students claim that senior year is filled with lots of exciting events such as school dances, senior lunches, senior dinners, extra sporting events and planning for their future. With all of these and more, many said that the desire to do well in school just slowly drifts to the back of their mind while they focus on all the events coming up instead.

“You just keep hearing about all of these fun events, inside and outside of school, and it’s just super difficult to channel your energy back to school work after getting excited about so many other things,” said senior Grace Vassalotti.

Bohr also said that her case of senioritis wasn’t as severe as she has seen from others.

“I know some people that actually fear that they might not graduate because of their lack of motivation after catching senioritis,” she said.

“Senioritis has definitely been a major cause of my procrastination this year,” said Bohr. “Besides all of the perks that come with senior year, it’s just the fact that you keep hearing it’s your final year of high school, and that makes a lot of people just want to stop trying in school”.

Flemmer also said that the typical diagnosis is numerous NHI’s (not handed ins) and zeros in the gradebook, as well as poor attendance.

Several senior sources have agreed that senioritis is in fact very real, and that everyone should be aware of catching this dangerous disease.

Have you ever felt your conscience talk to you?

It may not be a clear voice or an immediate sign, but just the sign of anxiousness or guilt one feels when doing something he or she shouldn’t be doing.

It seems as though your conscience talks to you, warning you it is a bad idea.

Students face this feeling regularly when committing the “great crime” of procrastination.

We know wasting our time on social media is a bad idea, and putting off work until the last minute will only create further problems, yet we still choose to do it.

However, several students have spoken of their tips for time management, and how to avoid all-nighters and an addiction to caffeine.

Even though procrastination may seem like a good idea at the time, “think about how great it’ll be once you’re done with everything and then you can just do nothing,” said junior Darcy Jones.

Jones said she finishes all the homework assigned over the weekend on Friday so she doesn’t need to study later in the weekend.

Other students agreed with Jones, saying they also try to get ahead to prevent themselves from procrastinating.

Senior Andrew Longo said he has been personally affected by procrastination, but creates calendars and reminders on his phone to try and get better at not doing work right before it’s due.

“If I have a big project coming up, I will tell myself to do a little bit of it each night instead of doing it all the night before. It takes away a lot of stress and also gets me better grades,” said Longo.

Setting up schedules or reminders help students keep track of their time and manage it effectively. Another strategy is using a planner to organize and one’s work.

“I definitely have an agenda at home. You need an agenda if you want to be organized. My agenda is based off of what is most important,” said sophomore Andie Noble.

Some students advised setting up a schedule or agenda following most importance and time relevance to get everything done.

Junior Rachel Kang said she sets up an agenda according to what is most relevant and time-consuming, setting aside the work that takes the longest time for last so she can finish brief work first and get it out of the way.

According to an article on tips for procrastination by college advice site college express, creating a schedule is one of the top 10 ways to prevent students from procrastinating.

The article also recommends giving yourself deadlines, getting organized and other methods.

“Getting organized already takes a load of stress off of my shoulders when I’m trying to complete things,” said Longo.

Some other students agreed that becoming organized is one of the first steps they take when trying to accomplish big goals or assignments.

Another article from lifestyle website life hacks suggested that telling others about your goals makes you more likely to achieve them.

The article agreed with college express, as both say breaking down your work into little steps and eliminating distractions are very helpful when attempting to defeat procrastination.

Some tips for defeating procrastination include:

• Have a positive and motivated mindset towards completing your work
• Set up an agenda in regards to prominence and time
• Stay organized and plan effectively how to to accomplish projects and papers
• Do not cram the night before or the day of, but lay out a schedule for studying, days before the exam
• Set reminders and tell others of your goals to stay on top of all work