Classes, clubs and social activities all demand large slices of time throughout the average week and trying to satisfy all of them without losing your sanity can amount to a challenging feat. Case in point, I recently had the unfortunate experience of staying up past 2 a.m. finishing a paper due that day, as a result of which I missed breakfast and was almost late to class.
In light of our numerous responsibilities as students, it often seems like recreational time is time that could be better spent. While at times we certainly spend more time scrolling through Instagram than we should given our workload, this does not mean that all free time is wasted.
Productive uses of time are valuable, but not intrinsically more so than zoning out to Spotify or grabbing coffee, since the latter are the only reason we have the vitality to accomplish all of our responsibilities. NC State’s Counseling Center advises, “Restorative time is essential for managing stress and for providing us the energy we need to be at our best during productive time.” They further note the importance of a healthy work-life balance in planning out one’s weekly appointments.
Personal well-being and productivity are not separate goals. To suggest that achieving one requires a sacrifice of the other is to create a false dichotomy. Planning free time into a schedule can facilitate the completion of other tasks.
Placing firm limits on time for goofing off allows for compartmentalization, that is, switching into specific modes of thought for specific activities. Allowing the pleasure-seeking brain a set amount of free reign appeases it and makes focusing on work easier when the productive mind reasserts control.
Virginia Tech’s Department of Student Affairs — one of the external sources linked to by the Counseling Center — attests, “It is more efficient to study hard for a definite period of time and then stop for a few minutes, than to attempt to study indefinitely.” They also note that designating specific subjects for each study period helps to remain focused on one task at a time.
Although, in theory, we ought to commit a substantial portion of our day to free time, in practice we often compromise this time first because other tasks are seen as more important. To a certain extent, this trade-off is rational — giving up a few hours of sleep to finish a project worth 20 percent of your final grade probably helps more than it hurts. Yet consistently running on caffeine and sleep deprivation is neither physically healthy nor academically wise.
The Counseling Center’s webpage on stress lists a litany of symptoms that stem from stress, which they define as “the wear and tear on your body as you adjust to a continually changing environment.” Helpfully, they also link to a variety of resources for stress, as well as individual articles on aspects of stress management, and as always, they encourage students to stop in with any issues they may be dealing with.
Although we each have a considerable capacity to regulate our own stress, to ensure we reach our individually optimal level, we also have the capacity to reform the social conception of down time. Society places a sharp emphasis on productivity. A country’s wealth is measured by its Gross Domestic Product. Individuals are often measured by how much money they earn, with money being society’s way of attempting to reward productivity.
Cultural biases against a perceived lack of productivity can make us feel guilty about choosing not to study for that test or plan that next club meeting. This pressure is amplified for college students, as college is portrayed simultaneously as the launching pad for a career and as the “best years of your life,” raising the requirements for being acceptably productive.
Tempering these often-exaggerated expectations for college is a key to creating a more humanistic atmosphere on campus. We must remind ourselves and our friends that relaxation is not the same thing as laziness, that goofing off is not always procrastination and that caring for yourself is always a high priority.
At university, students are faced with the freedom and responsibility of managing their own schedule. While each person has distinct needs in terms of the ratio between classes, work and recreation, we must all ensure that our own mental and physical health not fall by the wayside in our pursuit of gaining the most out of our college experience.
