Don't Delay

Understanding procrastination and how to achieve our goals.

Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. is an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where he specializes in the study of procrastination. See full bio

March 23, 2009, Procrastination

Comments on "Problematic Internet Use, Internet Procrastination and Flow"

Problematic Internet Use, Internet Procrastination and Flow

By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on March 23, 2009 in Don't Delay

Is the time you spend online so excessive that it disrupts your social life or causes you physical harm? Are you using the Internet to avoid doing your real work? Do you get so "hooked" that you lose track of the amount of time that you spend online? Read More

hi

Submitted by Sarah on March 24, 2009 - 5:51am.

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://grillsblog.com

Really?

Submitted by LeanRainmakingMachine on March 24, 2009 - 6:50am.

I am reading your blog article only because I'm at work and there are various things I don't want to do, as they are boring and I don't really perceive I will succeeed at them.. This from an otherwise extremely successful, accomplished seniot professionsl. So, u r spot on!!

Procrastinating to escape feelings

Submitted by Ahmed on April 2, 2009 - 10:14pm.

I often find that to be the case with me, many a time I would "intend" to start studying, but then an overwhelming feeling of negativity would begin to build up in me (usually from thinking of the amount of work that needs to be done), and instead of starting to work (the logical move) I would find myself gravitating towards Facebook or fixing up some mundane iCal or iTunes update. It's only retrospectively that the illogical nature of that action becomes clearer to me.
One of the better strategies that I use to address this is by promising myself "reward sessions" of networking or updating after a certain time period or say # of pages completed. Which according to recent research actually increases productivity as it provides a concentration break ;)

The article opens by saying

Submitted by Anonymous on May 19, 2009 - 8:20am.

The article opens by saying how if you use the internet instead of doing work then this is bad. Why was this written then?

I think we have a

Submitted by Anonymous on November 29, 2009 - 7:00am.

I think we have a responsibility to ourselves as a human race to limit the amount of time we spend researching and writing as a means to self endulgence when there are other responsibilities requiring our attention (not attacking writers and researchers here this analogy identifier also includes chatters and bloggers and gamers). However mundane or monotonous the responsibility may be to an individual, the truth is by avoiding it won't get R done. It would be interesting to see a study developed to find out if intereacting via internet vs intereacting in person has a significant difference in the social development one is required to engage in to be fully rounded psychologically.