FollowI’m sure we’ve all experienced the ‘who’s-busier’ competition. It goes something like this:
Person A: Oh my gosh, I’m so tired, I only slept for three hours last night!
Person B: Oh my gosh, I pulled an all-nighter! I had classes all morning and then after study group in the afternoon, I had to help out at my research lab. I went home at around eight and spent forever on my paper for my humanities class due tomorrow!
A: Ugh I had back-to-back classes from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m., and then I had work till 6. I got home at 9 after a club meeting, and I worked on my CS project all night.
B: At least you don’t have any midterms. I have two this week and one more the next!
A: I have a paper and project due next week that I haven’t even started on yet—
And so forth. You get the point. Everyone complains about how busy they are and compares with one another. Who has more midterms? Who’s taking more units? Who sleeps less?
Is being this busy proof of our productivity? Or does it bring more harm than good?
The term ‘busy trap’ turned viral after Tim Kreider wrote his eponymous NY Times article in 2012. Kreider views busyness as “a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy.” He observes that people who complain about being too busy are referring to activities and obligations they’ve voluntarily taken on.
Several people responded to Kreider’s denunciation of being busy. Sarah Swong, a student at Yale University, wrote an article specifically defending young people from ‘the busy trap.’ While Kreider’s article claims people turn towards being busy to soothe their insecurities, Swong argues that young people’s busy habits arise due to uncertainty about our future. Our busy schedules are a part of our path of self-discovery.
As a college student in a hypercompetitive environment, ‘busy’ comes up a lot in my life. It’s next to impossible to coordinate meeting up with my partners for a group project. Sometimes I catch a peek of people’s Google calendars and stare in awe at the array of colorful blocks. With Telebears around the corner, the number of units people are taking is often thrown around in conversation. It’s always a competition of who’s busier. Truth be told, we’re all busy. Always. There’s never enough time for a Berkeley student. There’s always something more to do.
There’s always someone busier.
When are you going to have lunch?
What’s important, though, is to identify for yourself how busy is too busy? This semester, I decided to ‘challenge’ myself with a heavy courseload and two additional extracurricular activities. Thinking back, it was a dumb decision. Part of the reason I did so was simply because one of my friends had shown me her packed schedule and I felt like I wasn’t doing enough.
About two months into the semester, I realized I was just too busy. I would neglect my other classes while studying for my chemistry midterm, and then after the midterm, I’d begin the catch-up process for my upcoming sociology midterm. Meanwhile, I fell further behind in all my other classes. This went on and on, catching up on one class right before its midterm while falling behind in all my other classes. I was always in the catch-up process.
Enough was enough. One day before the deadline to change grading options, I P/NP-ed one of my elective classes. I minimized my participation in activities I wasn’t so interested in. I cut back on the hours I worked. As a result, I now have nights for TV shows, dinners with friends, and a more flexible schedule. I’d argue that I’m happier.
As college students, it’s so easy for us to get swamped by our obligations. It’s therefore important for us to sometimes take a step back and reevaluate our lives. Are we busy for the wrong reasons? Is being busy worth the things we’re giving up?
Are we too busy?
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