Starbucks location: On Imperial Hwy, next to the Borders
This is my first post and as you've probably noticed, I'm at Starbucks. Its right about closing time, and in about 2 minutes, the cashier will come up to me and tell me that the store is closing at 9 o'clock. Although, you never know. I'm here everyday that they might expect me to know that its about closing time.
So why the hell am I at Starbucks at close to 9 o'clock when I have a Chemistry test and an AP comp Sci test, finals right around the corner, and winter formal at Oxford Academy this Saturday?
This is why, and its actually very shocking:
I canceled my internet at my house (on my free will) and I come to Starbucks almost everyday to use the wi-fi here.
So why did I make such a drastic decision, something that noone would expect a student to make?
Well, the answer lies in my attention span and my inability to control myself.
See the thing is, the internet is filled with time-sucking things, such as this very blog. Youtube, Yahoo!news, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Photobucket, AddictingGames, damn the list goes on and on and on. And with all these time sucking things, I get suckered in pretty quickly. I try to control myself, but I can't control it. One second, I'll be working on my Social Issues essay. The next, I've pulled up my playlist on Playlist.com and I'm checking Yahoo.com to see if I have gotten an email, when I checked it 5 minutes ago. So my overall work is only 10percent of my internet usage time.
So the only solution to curb this solution? Cut the internet.
Which puts me in a sticky situation, because I need the internet for work. Therefore, Starbucks. Even if I don't do any work, I have a time limit, this damn 9 o'clock closing time. So, I have to finish everything I have to do by 9 o'clock and pray that I didn't forget anything as I sit here typing on this blog.
The sick thing is that I must resort to such extreme measures to control myself. It is insane that students in high school are unable to control themselves. Procrastination is not something that the slackers are accustomed to. EVERY student in my school, and I would assume the whole United States if not the world, procrastinate their work. Our world is filled with attention diverting things that are purposefully set up to distract us. And at an age where we are too immature to control our actions, we are required to work the greatest. I don't like to be insensitive but I work more hours, sleep later, and do more physical draining work than my parents. I average 4 hours of sleep a night on the weekdays. The backwards nature of our society seems ironic, by directing the most distracting technology that exists at students, who are hormone crazy, distracted by the other sex, have shorter attention spans than older people, and yet we are required to do more work than adults who are able to control their actions.
What is more sad is that the majority of the work that we are required to do is not intellectual work but more busy work, to keep us busy. I can't find any importance in the work that teachers give us. Even if it reinforces concepts taught in school the homework isn't beneficial nor does it truly reinforce what is taught. It helps, but time could be more well spent being TAUGHT more in class. I understand that the teachers have checkpoints they have to reach in order to prepare students for tests, but these checkpoints themselves are pointless. By forcing information down our throats, we are just computers who process information without truly understanding the information that is being spoken.
We need reform or change or something because what is going on right now is not working. We need to change the MENTALITY of the students, change the way the students think and study, and change the way that teachers teach. Only than will we have a better society.
-from Starbucks
Mr. Rhee
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5 comments:
You wasted time writing this... How ironic, a rant describing the con's of attention diversion and procrastination, however by writing this, you have delayed the completion time of precious Latin homework.
O ho, I just read that in your post we have more work than adults... Um, I think you might want to recheck on that, plus I think we, the students, don't carry half or even a portion of the stress and responsibilities adults do. Might want to recheck that statement, Mr. Rhee.
"busy work that keeps us busy"
GENIOUS
umm the guy on the bottom spelled genius wrong. DOUBLE IRONY?
and i just have to say that you shouldn't have cancelled your internet. why waste money and time going to starbucks all the time when you could just practice a little self control?
Your absolutely right, Simon. The 4 comments on this post are more in the defensive/attacking mode than discussion mode. I think you have many good points. The only irony I see, is that teachers and parents alike complain about how much trouble we have focusing, and how much we procrastinate. However, if you take a moment to consider the fact that the only reason this is true, is because we have been raised this way. We are the first generation to have so many different media's bombarded onto us since birth. The internet, television, video games galore! It really isn't a surprise that our age is so "ADD" or "ADHD" because we have always been brought up to be constantly entertained, and not be able to sit still and focus for more than about 20-30minutes at a time.
We as people must make the conscious effort to prevent this. It's too easy to just say "this is how I am" when you choose how you want to act.
I admire you Simon, for cutting off your internet. I would have quite a bit of trouble doing that... and even then I would simply switch to checking my phone constantly.
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