Remember high school? We had to get to school at between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. five days a week, and stay there at least seven hours a day. And if you were anything like me, you woke up early to make sure your hair was well groomed, your make-up was on point, and your outfit was trendy. Now, we're late to our 9 a.m. classes on a regular basis. We're lucky if we brushed our hair before class. If not, thank goodness for baseball caps. We only have between two to four hours of classes a day, and we barely make it to those.
How did we get so lazy? I've been pondering this idea for a while and I have a few theories. Keep in mind these are just my own musings and there may be little or no truth to my explanations.
Maybe it's just a state of mind we've slowly lapsed into.
We don't have our parents to tell us to get up and make sure we have a good breakfast. We don't have them rushing us out the door to get us to school on time. We don't have them to tell us not to let dishes pile up in the sink for days, or to do our laundry, or to bathe. We have so much more autonomy -- control over ourselves to, if not do what we think is best, at least do what we want. And what we want is rarely to go to class.
Maybe it's choice.
Maybe I choose not to get out of bed until 15 minutes before I need to be in class. Maybe I choose to watch Netflix instead of doing homework and procrastinate until the very last minute. Maybe, just maybe, I choose to be lazy.
Maybe we're in a new era when we're tired all the time because we have a lot more on our plates than previous generations.
College is more expensive, so most of us have to hold down jobs to afford our tuition. The workload our professors give us is a little more intense than back in the glory days. And if we want a social life, we have to stay up later because, let's face it, there just aren't enough hours in a day.
Maybe it's a little more scientific.
I read an article recently that suggested adults ages 18 to 21 are naturally lazier. The article explained that adults in this age range are experiencing hormone changes and other science-y details that make us less likely to want to do actual work. My hypothesis is that it is probably a little of all of these.
I don't think I'm lazy because I don't want to do anything but, sometimes, I have so much going on in my head about what I need to do I don't know where to begin. I become overwhelmed, distracted, and then I just feel like I can't accomplish anything because no matter what project I start, I'm thinking about something else. Maybe that's just my ADD, but I think that many college students feel this way. I don't think that we actually are "lazy," I think we are just overwhelmed. So don't feel bad the next time you'd rather binge watch Netflix than do homework. Just kindly explain to your professor that you're a victim of nature and your environment and have an awesome school year!
"I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job... Because, he will find an easy way to do it." Bill Gates
