Where has the time gone? It’s a Monday afternoon, and the tasks just keep piling up. Very little has gotten done work-wise, however, and the list keeps growing. Worse still, the time is disappearing quickly. Before you know it, 3,600 seconds go by, and the panic sets in.

Whether it’s hanging with friends or logging onto Web sites like YouTube, a 2005 study
by Salary.com surveyed 10,000 people and found that Internet surfing is the top method of wasting time. It’s become the No. 1 way to avoid dealing with day-to-day tasks that are too
tedious to do. Forty-four percent of respondents stated that they log onto the Internet when they feel like passing the time and, in particular, avoid doing any work.

Angie Anchondo, a psychology major, agrees. “I admit that sometimes I have self-
imposed time wasters and I talk on the phone or use the Internet to avoid doing what I have to
do.”                                                                                                        

Wasting time, however, doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. In some cases, this down time can be used to avoid stresses and bypass an information overload caused from doing difficult tasks.

“I’ve found wasting time might even produce better results of what you’re supposed to
do,” says junior Crystal Marquez. She was quick to add, “as long as you don’t overindulge in it,
like everything else.”

So, maybe, the solution means a little bit of both. Start by planning ahead or making a list of what needs to be done to avoid the stresses of a full work-week. Then, before you know it, the weekend will be here and you can reward yourself with 48 hours of non-stop time wasting.