Finals week is upon us, and while that means I am spending time memorizing Quizlets and writing papers, I am honestly also spending much more time trying to find new ways to procrastinate studying those Quizlets or writing those essays.
I’m not alone — on a walk around the second floor of Hesburgh at 10 p.m. last night, I’d estimate that only about a third of students were diligently working, while everyone else was just goofing around. Some people were on their phones, scrolling TikTok or sending Snapchats. Others were talking with friends; I overheard one group of girls in a deep conversation about a hamster named Butter. A few people were scrolling through NOVO, trying to map out their spring semester schedules. I even saw a guy watching anime on a Hesburgh desktop computer with his textbook spread out in front of him, ignored.
The point is, we’re all guilty of procrastination, and it seems to get even worse as finals week draws closer. I’m certainly no exception, but this semester, my procrastination method of choice has been making new Spotify playlists. My roommate introduced me to the world of Spotify playlists, and in the last month, I’ve made 15 new playlists and have been frequently updating my playlists’ names and pictures.
After many hours on Spotify curating my playlists, I have some tips to help you with your own as you procrastinate this finals week. First, be sure to have playlists dedicated to the time period you’re listening to the songs. For example, I have a playlist of all the songs I discovered and have had on repeat from August until now. These songs represent the memory of my first semester of college and will be nostalgic to look back on. Also, I have a One Direction playlist of all the songs I adored in middle school, and it is so fun to put it on every once in a while and be taken right back to 2013.
Another trend on TikTok is to be super-specific in naming your playlists to really capture the vibe of the songs. For example, one of my favorite playlists is titled “driving down milwaukee avenue at 7pm on a thursday” because it is exactly what I listen to when I make that drive back at home. Finally, I’d recommend creating a playlist of your favorite songs of all time. This playlist is wonderful because, while it’s not organized by artist or style of music, it is one I can always press shuffle on without any fear of having to skip a song.
I’ve used these tips to create some of my favorite playlists, both ones I listen to frequently and others that I just put on every once in a while for nostalgia. Especially since Spotify playlists can be constantly updated, curating them is also an amazing way to procrastinate studying for finals.