Friday, November 16, 2007

True Diligence

Who would think that, at 11am on a Friday morning, it would be difficult to find a seat in the school library? Shouldn't everyone be in bed- sleeping, hungover??

That's not even the most baffling part. The baffling part is that the students, rather than having their lap-tops open to "Facebook" or "Perez Hilton" appear to be...working. Truly working. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Not even during exam period at Chapel Hill. The hunched over, absorbed, papers-spread-out-around-you kind of working. Now wait, that's a lie. I see two girls with their lap-tops open.

They're exchange students.

I'm a good student, but I've never been "studious." In truth, I've never felt the need to study intensely in anything except for science and math, and that's because I'm horrendously bad at them. I do my homework, but "studying" is reserved only for big, important tests. Even then, my version of "cracking open the books" is a pitifully literal one. I crack them open and that's about it. A study session for me usually involves frequent e-mail checking, coffee refills, my ipod, and chatting online. So far, it's worked for me.

And I think as far as American students go, I'm in the average- pretty good range in terms of my habits. Even at UNC- one of the most highly ranked public universities in the country- the libraries are filled with students sleeping, eating, murmuring on their cell phone. Almost no one is sans laptop, and you can frequently hear music drifting from headphones. I don't doubt that all of the students have the intention to work- otherwise they wouldn't be there- it's only that they've all found excellent diversions to it. I'd estimate, frankly, that only 20% of the students are being truly "productive."

My question is: Are the French really more diligent, or have they simply not yet discovered the treasure trove of procrastination mechanisms modern technology offers? Or is it simply that the concept of multi-tasking is a bit foreign to them? I said before that the whole culture seems structured around doing one thing at a time. You have, for example, different stores for different needs. You don't eat on the go. You don't have your cell phone attached to your head. The irony is: in eschewing the temptation to multi-task, these students are, in all likelihood, being a thousand times more productive than any facebooking American student.

It's not a new idea, of course, but I'm beginning to think I'd be a lot more productive and a lot less stressed if I modeled in the French in focusing all my energy and attention on one thing at a time. For all of the inefficiency in this country- I have to say- in this area, I think they've got it right on.

But I feel that I'm somewhat stuck in my multi-procrastinating ways. The idea of writing a paper without some seriously sugar-loaded snack and a friend's electronic presence at hand seems nearly impossible. That said, when you take into account shotty internet connection and the fact that grocery stores close at 7:30pm- I just might have too.

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Being in France has made me less inclined to multi-task, apparently. For instance, instead of trying to watch Sex and the City episodes while cleaning my kitchen, I just decided to spend hours watching Sex and the City episodes! Progress!

Elizabeth said...

PS. I promise I don't spend all my time watching SATC, it's just weekends where there is a transportation strike and I literally only have 6 euro and don't want to break my promise not to touch the ATM til Monday.