Let’s face it – how many of us actually start doing homework when we sit down at a desk? As a famous tumblr quote states, “You have to procrastinate for three hours to get started on homework for the night.” Don’t take this advice to heart, readers, but taking a break every now and then is sometimes the most productive thing you can do! Here are just a few websites to get you started on your prolonged coffee break.
1. Tumblr: Ah, the epitome of the mish-mash that is the internet. Tumblr, the brainchild of David Karp, popularized microblogging in the form of tumblelogs, which are short-form blogs. Typically, the content runs in bite-sizes, and ranges from videos and picture files to the traditional blog posts. You can peruse individual tumblelogs, but it’s more convenient to make an account and ‘follow’ multiple blogs that show up in chronological order on your dashboard. The sheer variety of content that you can find renders this website a must-have in your bookmarks tab.
http://www.tumblr.com
2. Damn you, Auto Correct: With four years of the iphone on the market, you’d think that by now, Apple would have gotten their thing together and made the autocorrect function actually correct something. Thanks to the super-intuitive iPhone OS, we now have entire websites dedicated to enshrining the hilarious social blunders that the autocorrect function produces. Lesson learned: proofread your texts!
http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com
3. StumbleUpon: StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that magically recommends new web content to you based on your prior internet use. The coolest part is that you can use this engine from your smartphone as well! It’s perfect for those monotonous bus rides between East and West (or Central and West). If you’re feeling extra lazy and your brain has turned off from too many problem sets (I speak from personal experience), go ahead and click that adorable Stumble! button.
http://www.stumbleupon.com – to download the toolbar
4. The Onion: Perhaps the most sneaky way to procrastinate (more on that later), The Onion is one of America’s premier news satire organizations. I can’t think of ‘satire’ without having The Onion pop up in the same train of thought. It’s an excellent way to gauge the political and social climate of the time by noting which articles or world events were parodied by its extremely talented writers.
http://www.theonion.com
5. Free Rice: If you’re procrastinating, why not make it useful? I know that goes against the very principles of the practice, but here’s a chance to use those 10-letter SAT words that you spent a couple months memorizing. For every correct answer, the website donates ten grains of rice via the World Food Programme. If you’re not up for the extracurricular vocabulary practice, try starting on the first few levels! Although the words are so simple as to make you scoff, some of the synonyms they present are unusual enough to make you stop and think. Besides, nothing beats that sense of pride when you check your counter and see that you have donated 2450 grains of rice! (I use this website too much.)
http://www.freerice.com
Extra : HerCampus: Saving the best for last. Her Campus has many articles—too many to read all in one night!—to keep you occupied for the better part of your procrastination session. Where else would you find witty articles written by college women, for college women?