A Reflection by Sarah Mahl
In the scary time we live in now, it can seem impossible to escape the constantly developing news on COVID-19 and the pandemic encompassing the world. It’s hard enough to cope with this, but as a college student, it feels as if my entire life has been uprooted, not to mention the unpredictable future we all face. I do have my online classes to keep me busy, as all of my peers do as well, but many of us face unemployment as a result of the pandemic. Plus, because of our government mandated social isolation, we’ve all lost some form of human contact. This has left most of us with more free time, especially since our spring break was extended by a week. Many are taking the opportunity to read, watch movies, play video games—whatever is relaxing and enjoyable. There’s also the recent trend in bread baking. With this much free time, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Internet, and I’ve noticed a lot of people giving advice on how to stay productive while isolated at home. In conversations with friends, I’ve also noticed how “productivity” is being used to measure how meaningful a day was spent, and their attitude about their day would usually be negative if they weren’t “productive” at all. The negative affects of this productivity, while seemingly beneficial, could be interesting to explore. Maybe it’s a product of our society and the pressure we face to use as much of our time as possible to work—whether we’re working on improving ourselves, starting that project we’ve been meaning to for months, or trying to make some extra money—but this pressure has made me feel as if I’m doing something wrong if I’m not completing these activities. It’s very stressful to think about, especially now. Of course, for those who are fortunate enough to be able to work from home, being productive is important because they still have to work, and still have to “go” to work, even though it’s from home. It can also help with our schoolwork, since it can be easy to get distracted at home with our families. Students are around the country are facing this reality, and when we don’t have work or schoolwork to do, there is a tangible pressure to be productive, to make sure that we don’t waste our time. We have to be “productive” to feel like we’re contributing to society, so that, eventually, we can be successful. There’s also a pressure to commodify our time for profit, which causes us to measure our time based on how much money we are making, such that if we aren’t making any, we are wasting time. When we’re not faced with a global pandemic, this pressure isn’t great for our mental wellbeing, and now that we are all stuck at home, the pressure is even greater, and yet, we should be allowed to take a break every so often, especially now. This pressure to be productive is only adding to the stress of the pandemic. Our definition of “productive” could be reframed to include the activities we complete to keep ourselves alive, such as sleeping, eating, and drinking water. Someone’s definition of productive could also involve hobbies, such as painting. It may seem arbitrary, but something as simple as a check list can help someone’s feel a little more structured and as if an effort has been made to participate in the simplest actions of self care. It’s difficult to become accepting with doing nothing, and with just existing, but I believe that we need it more than ever right now. Even so, it should be ok to not be “productive” all the time, or to consider yourself as being productive. The pandemic shouldn’t be seen as an opportunity for success; instead, we should take the time to breathe, slow down, and cope with our current reality. Even though we do have schoolwork right now, we are not obligated to work according to the expectations that are set when we are on campus. At least, we shouldn’t be. It’s ok to not be productive, it’s ok to do absolutely nothing, and it’s important to remind ourselves of that. I know that I need to. For more thoughts on the topic, there’s a fantastic article from the New York Times by Taylor Lorenz titled “Stop Trying to be Productive” as well as an article from Refinery29 titled “No, You Don’t Need To Use Isolation To Write A Novel” by Vicky Spratt that elaborate more on the pressure to be productive and how the Internet has impacted our lives during the pandemic.
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January 2024
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