Right now, it is 12:56 am, on August 13th, 2015. Amidst the noise of a Kurt Cobain documentary playing in the background, (I seriously recommend Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, by the way.) I find myself idly browsing the popular website Reddit, "The Frontpage of the Internet" on my phone. Initially planning to start writing this article several hours ago, it has taken me until close to 1:00 am to even start. This is far from the first time this has happened, and it certainly won't be the last either. Now I don't mean to bash this website; Reddit is an extremely useful platform for exchanging information, ideas, and cat pictures. However, like the proverbial Alice in Wonderland, I've spent the better part of three years tumbling down this rabbit hole. What started as reading about news and technology has evolved into something else entirely. So join me, dear reader, as I share with you my descent into the website known as Reddit.
Perhaps I should elaborate on how Reddit works first. Reddit is made up of innumerable communities based around shared interests called subreddits which can be found at, for example, /r/news. It is in these subreddits where people can post links to news articles, videos, photos, etc, or make a post asking a question. Regardless of the type of post, users can comment and discuss what has been linked. Popular subreddits are /r/gaming, /r/AskReddit, and /r/TodayILearned. And it is addicting. Speaking from first hand experience, it's easy to lose track of time on this website once you've grown accustomed to the layout.
If the art of procrastination was invented in high school, it was perfected in college. All of us (well, most of us) do it, even if we don't want to admit it. So is Reddit the culprit here? Maybe not in your case, but I've spent a shocking amount of time idly browsing subreddits like /r/InterestingAsF***, /r/me_irl and /r/BestOf. However in cases like this, I think it's best also to examine counterpoints. Is Reddit the bane of all productivity it seems like? Or is it actually just a scapegoat, an excuse we tell ourselves because in reality, the responsibilities we gain in the process of growing up scare the ever loving **** out us? Perhaps the fact that I'm bringing this up is indicative of a societal trend that nothing is ever our fault, it's always because of something or someone. It wasn't my fault for speeding, the cop that pulled me over was a jerk. It wasn't my fault my paper was turned in late, it was Reddit's fault for existing.
If you've made it this far you can probably tell that the point of this article wasn't explicitly about Reddit and procrastination, and it never was supposed to be. It was a veiled criticism of the habit many people including (especially) myself tend to get into; blaming others but never ourselves. Granted, I took the scenic route to get to my point, but it's food for thought nonetheless.
