Finals are no longer a distant thought in the back of your mind; they have arrived. Our last weekend to have a good time out is past us and we need to buckle down to make our last marks good ones. Inevitably, finals lead to procrastinating in one way or another. People procrastinate in all sorts of ways, whether its by eating, socializing, or cleaning. For me, I like to procrastinate on the Internet. When I’m typing a paper, the Safari icon at the bottom of my screen is just too tempting not to click on for all the possibilities it holds. You may either love me or hate me for this article, but in the spirit of finals, here is my definitive ranking of the best sites on which to procrastinate:
BuzzFeed (shout out to BuzzFeed Quizzes)
This year, BuzzFeed has become a staple to our Internet experience. Personally, opening up BuzzFeed is one of the first things I do when I open my laptop. I’m constantly searching for the most relatable article that just gets me, or even an article that perfectly describes my best friend and me. However, the best part of BuzzFeed is, hands down, the quizzes. When you are doing work and procrastinating, wondering why you’re even taking this class and who you are, BuzzFeed quizzes will provide you with all of the answers (a personal favorite, What City Should You Actually Live In?). But let’s be real, any feedback BuzzFeed gives you on your personality will always be positive, no matter what answers you put, so that they can be accredited for boosting your self-esteem. Hopefully your self-esteem isn’t solely based on BuzzFeed though.
When you’re trying to get yourself to write an essay that barely relates to you or your life, you immediately turn to Her Campus for relatable articles. The national branch of this site has awesome interviews with female professionals in How She Got There, Giveaways every week and so much more, plus there are over 200 individual college branches that publish weekly too. I personally feel refreshed and inspired after reading Her Campus articles because I know that there are girls on every college campus going through all the same struggles I am. With this comfort, I am able to approach my daunting schoolwork with much better confidence in my abilities. Her Campus provides a community where every college girl can connect to at least one thing or another. It provides the perfect “cyber comfort space” from your impersonal assignments.
Known as “The Voice of Generation-Y,” Elite Daily can easily be called the blog that defines our generation. Ranging in categories from humor to business to sex, Elite Daily writes inspiring articles that can shape and inspire the way we live. After a visit to Elite Daily’s site, I always close out the page with a brand new mindset, feeling ready to take on the world.
If you tell me that you don’t look up Beyoncé’s music videos, cute animals sneezing, or hilarious Jenna Marbles videos on YouTube when you’re studying, you’re lying to me and to yourself. YouTube videos easily take the edge off any stressful finals study session. You usually start by looking up educational videos that help you with your assignment, but somehow end up watching College Humor videos, then question how you even got there.
Let’s be honest, there has definitely been at least one time in your life where you were doing work but ended up “back-stalking” your Facebook page and reminiscing on how far you’ve come. Again, if you don’t admit to this, you’re probably lying. Facebook has become such a popular website worldwide and has continuously made great strides as a company. It’s no wonder that a site with all of our life histories in pictures is so popular. If you’re really struggling with the Facebook stalking itch, simply use self control (that’s an app, friends, and it’s very useful).
In all seriousness, procrastinating on the Internet doesn’t really need to be looked at as procrastinating. In fact, it is healthy when studying to take a break and clear your mind to refocus, as long as you keep it in moderation. Try your best not to use these sites as a distraction to your work, but as a tool to help you approach your work with a better mindset, only when the time is right. Good luck on finals from Her Campus Emory!