Some entertainment helps to get tons of homework done | On Track With Zach

Out of all seven days of the week, Sunday by far is the least friendly to me.

Out of all seven days of the week, Sunday by far is the least friendly to me.

My frayed relationship with Sunday is my own undoing, however, as Sunday is stocked full of a weekend’s accumulation of homework that I have decided to put off. Accepting the consequences of my actions is a concept I am not easily obliged to do, yet it is necessary, especially if I want to obtain a well-rounded GPA.

So, coming home from work at 8 p.m., I immediately start my other job as a student and push through the mountain high stack of assignments that actually wouldn’t seem so monotonous if I hadn’t procrastinated.

This humdrum routine takes a toll, especially in the late hours of the night, so I have found that keeping myself entertained through various sources of media actually allows me to pull through.

It is an ongoing debate whether or not listening to music and watching TV hinders material retention and the overall pace of completing homework.

To an extent, I do agree that both of the listed can be very distracting. But to a student who is capable of multi-tasking, I believe that utilizing these outlets during homework can actually help built-up work run its course a lot smoother.

Yahoo Answers and other internet sites bring up well-made points that focusing on anything other than that individual assignment you are doing causes a lapse in concentration and slows down progress.

Any parent, my own included, would probably scoff at the notion that listening to music or putting on “Real World: San Diego” has any constructive qualities during homework time. But parents just don’t get it.

Sitting down at my granite countertop and making a dent in the eight pages of notes I have due the following day, I can’t help but cope with the overwhelming drowsiness that begins to shroud my motivation.

Boredom, apathy, and sleepiness are key temptresses that lure unfortunate students to their bed with incomplete work. I see listening to music while doing homework as a solution around the aforementioned.

Skeptical parents stuck in their austere ways argue that mixing homework and music is pejorative, but their convictions are without claim; they don’t know any better.

When our parents used to do homework, it would have been a hassle for them to listen to music and do homework at the same time, as they would have to flip their record every time. We have Pandora radio and the shuffle option on our iPods.

Watching TV can also keep one awake, due to the fact I have something else other than my never-ending cornell notes to keep me awake.

I am not endorsing sitting in front of the TV with a lab-top, but it might not hurt to have it on in the background.

I would be misleading if I said that at times I don’t rock out to the song playing or get sucked into the plot of the show going on, but these media keep me from waking up with the realization I fell asleep without doing my homework.

Reporter intern Zach Shucklin is a senior at International Community School. Email zshucklin@kirklandreporter.com