As dead week and finals start for those on the quarter system and midterms start for students on the semester system, students begin to procrastinate.

When the work piles up and term papers are due just a day before the cumulative final, many college students turn their attention to something more entertaining than studying. There is something about the increased amount of schoolwork that makes students eager to do anything but the actual work.

There are countless ways for students to procrastinate in our technology filled world. Students procrastinate their time away by surfing the web, playing video games, watching movies, or even shopping online. Ever popular is the video website YouTube, where people can watch user-uploaded clips.

Before the Internet, students procrastinated by watching TV, listening to radio, or going out with friends. Students would talk on the phone, or take a walk, just to put off the actual work. However, in our modern society, students can be on the computer working one moment, and on the computer procrastinating the next. Technology has made is much more simple to waste time away.

Misha Chua, a second year at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said she “watches music videos on YouTube” and cleans her apartment when it’s “finals time and [she’s] stressed.”

Unfortunately, as popular as procrastination is, it can have a seriously detrimental effect on academics and work. Students will put off writing term papers until only a day before they are due. As a result, the papers can be rushed and professors will grade them harshly.

The same goes for studying for exams. A study by UC San Diego scientists found in Popular Science shows that information is more easily recalled when the information is memorized in smaller chunks over several days, contrary to cramming the night before.

Therefore, students and employees alike should cut down on procrastination and get their work done earlier rather than later. Of course, this is easier said than done.

One way to decrease procrastination is to use timers and goals on an hourly basis. Students should set a goal of completing a certain assignment by a certain time. Since students will already be online, they should open up a new tab and head over to Online-Stopwatch.com, where they can use an online timer. Students should set the timer for “Count Down” for thirty minutes. After the timer has reached zero and the buzzer goes off, it’s time for students to get offline and study.

In other words, students should set goals of completing the first part of a paper by three o’clock, and reading a few chapters before five. By setting goals, students will know that a page needs to be written each day, instead of just waiting to write a paper that is due in a week.

Students should also keep a daily calendar so they are always aware of what assignment is due on what date. Also, after successfully studying for an hour, be sure to take breaks and reward yourself for fifteen minutes. No one can work for several hours straight without it affecting their performance.

Many students experience the hard way that procrastination is not effective. After putting off a five-page paper until the night before, it can be devastating to discover that the paper is in fact an eight page paper. Even if students do have their facts straight, completing the paper earlier is a much better option. While procrastinating, students can feel stressed and guilty about not getting work done. Playing video games and going out with friends feels much more fulfilling when the paper is already completed.