As the last day of classes and finals week approaches, it seems like everything is just piling on top of itself. Personally, I lose count on what I have to do and what is due which day. Another thing I lose track of is what day my exams are, and exactly where and when the actually test is coming. It seems to me every student on campus is battling spring fever. For example, it is getting extremely hard for me to focus on my school work because of the nicer weather. I think spring fever is having a bigger impact than normal because of the harsh winter we experienced in Upstate New York.
Believe it or not, I have used my phone to keep me on track with my school work. Never in a million years would I have thought I would use my cellular device to keep me focused, because for the past couple of years it has been the source of my distraction, and the reason why I have procrastinated so long on most of my school work. Over the course of the past two weeks, I have used the calendar app on my phone to write down what assignments are due on which day. Also, I downloaded an app called “My Countdown” that sends you a notification every morning that tells how far an event is out. For example, I wake up every morning to see how many more days i have left till I take my astronomy, calculus, and theater exam. This little daily reminder helps me stay motivated. This simple reminder has helped me not to procrastinate too much on my exam studying. Another habit I have started to develop is that when I sit down and do homework, I set a timer for an hour on my phone and once that hour hits, I get up for 10 minutes and walk around and text my friends as a little distraction. Once that 10 minutes is over, I go back to studying for another hour. From past experiments with myself, I have learned that the most I can study at a time is 2 hours, but I can do this two or three times throughout the day. This is how I plan on attacking finals week.
In conclusion, I believe there is a silver lining to using your phone: it can help you become organized, but on the other hand, it could come at the price of distracting you and not letting you get your work done. As we are freshman, I believe it is important to develop healthy habits that will allow us to succeed during finals week here at SUNY Geneseo.