The Allure of Social Media & The Art of Procrastination

I love Facebook.  I can't articulate why, though.  I see the same people posting the same types of laments about their lives, their spouses, their kids; the same people gunning for causes and thinking that posting them on Facebook will cure bunions, raise awareness for cats with jaundice, or any other cause we find worthy.  But it's a voyeuristic glimpse into lives of people that I know either superficially or deeply.  I myself try not to post too much, because I'm not certain that people really care if I'm making a fabulous dinner again, for the 800th night in a row, and I'm pretty certain people don't care if I'm feeling bitchy on any given day.  But it's a wonderful distraction and an interesting social experiment.

Which leads me to the art of procrastination.  I'm mostly done with this semester's PhD work.  Except that for the fourth time, I've changed my dissertation topic, leaving me seriously one, maybe two, semesters behind.  My problem is focus.  I have about two hundred serious interests, and as I learn more, I find some new tangent to focus on.  Perhaps a clinical psychology would label me attention-deficit, but I don't think that fits the bill.  I am intensely interested in several topics, and I think my life will be a waste if I don't pursue as many of my passions as truly possible.  But at some point - obviously today won't be it - I will need to narrow it down, find something meaningful for my dissertation so I can find, eventually, my profession.  At work this week, I told my group that our jobs reward procrastination.  I wasn't being flippant or sarcastic, I was being candid.  I pride myself on being efficient - if you ask me to do something, I'm on it like a scotch bonnet.  (Okay, I made that up.)  But where does it get me?  People just ask for more from you, or think that you didn't put enough time into your work, which for me is not the case, I've just been doing the same thing for so long it comes naturally.  And then there are the times when I do something when asked, only to have to rework it, sometimes several times, because people keep changing their minds.  Then there is the issue of being caught between several strong personalities, all with varying degrees of "in charge."  They all want something different, and I'm growing increasingly tired of being the chess pawn in their power hungry match.  So, I'm being reinforced to procrastinate, and it's spilling into my life of academia.

So, time to shut off Facebook, it will be there when I come back, and move onto the literature review for technology and education.  Wait, is that the timer going off for my banana walnut bread?