ARTICLE: Not Lazy, Just Distracted
By swizzmin on 03 May
I’m sick of older generations claiming that we’re lazy and have no work ethic—its bullshit. They walk around like they had some inherent drive to succeed; some deeper motivation that disappeared along with crew cuts, leather condoms and smoking cigarettes indoors. I’m sick of it. It’s not that they were better than our generation, it’s that we just have way more distractions to deal with. They just had nothing better to do back in the day besides work.
Think about how many distractions we have to deal with on a daily basis. It’s absurd.
Take a college paper, for instance. Writing a paper is a constant battle to stay focused, and resist distractions like cell phones, Facebook, music blogs, porn, reality television, Xbox 360s, and fantasy football (jk, I hate sports). Now think about back in the day. The biggest distraction to writing a paper was making sure you had enough ink on the tip of your quill (that sounds like a seualk inuendo, but it’s not.. or is it?) (it’s not).
Speaking of distractions, I just checked facebook, twitter, and searched for the new adventure club song on youtube as I was typing this sentence. The words in that sentence alone would confuse my grandma. I would have to spend the next 45 minutes explaining what twitter was before she could even begin to understand how social media affects productivity.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I could spend the rest of the article naming websites that I check on a daily basis while procrastinating, but I won’t, because I’m sure most people have lost interest in this article already. Chicken Nuggets. Centipede. Underpants.
Now that I have your attention.
If you’re not multitasking these days then you’re falling behind. Take my phone: right now I can text, bbm (yeah, haven’t upgraded to the iphone yet, so what!), group chat on whatsapp, check both of my email accounts, and, oh yeah, call someone. Back in the day, unless you knew the person you were trying to call was sitting next to the phone in their kitchen, there was really no point in calling. They didn’t even have answering machines. It’s gotten to the point that, if I don’t get a response after five minutes of trying to reach someone, I assume that they’re ignoring me—or they’re on a plane. I’m sure she’s just on a plane. I love you, Amanda.
Not only do we have more distractions, but we are expected to be reachable at all times.
Whenever I hear an old person telling a story about how they had to walk six miles to school or work or whatever, all I can think about is how much they could’ve done in that time if they had a Smartphone. On a six mile walk I could make my weekend plans (assuming Amanda isn’t still on a plane), answer an email from my boss, get a response, and respond again, blog about the new Major Lazer remix, and finally dominate yet another game of Draw Something (I’m lying obvs, I have a black berry, congrats for paying attention). So, unless you’re trying to prove that you used your time less efficiently than I do, I suggest you save it Gramps. It’s not that you worked harder—you were just expected to juggle fewer things.
If my only distraction was a giant radio in my living room where all of the announcers sounded like Chris Parnell, then I’m sure I would’ve had a job at 13 too. Not because I had this innate urge to contribute to society, but because I was just so fucking bored.
BY TIM BRIERLY
Real.College.Life.
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