Never mind that most of those hours are spent on Facebook and Instagram instead of #studying for #finals. Or that these seemingly studious people sit at large tables with their friends and complain about the professor’s unfair grading or the problems of procrastination. The charm of Geisel is that being there makes us feel busy. Ultimately, beyond passing grades, that’s what we really seek from studying.
Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell has attributed the desire for hectic schedules and stressful routines to our illusory perceptions that they “make us feel important and in demand.” We subconsciously assume that if we have a lot of work ahead of us, it’s because we are champions of labor forging our brave paths forward in the academic world. This is because we are naturally averse to living without stress — the pressure that we feel lets us know that our lives are fulfilling, that we’re not letting the days slip out of our grasp while aimlessly slouching around watching TV.
Despite the frequent frustration and occasional angst that might accompany a tiring day, we want to be able to hop in bed at night with that warm and fuzzy feeling of accomplishment, regardless of what actually constitutes having achieved anything. A seemingly innocuous look at a packed calendar can quickly satiate this thirst for being busy, even if the day’s events merely consist of walking to Pines, sipping lemonade or going on a jaunt down to Black’s. As long as we have a sense of purpose, we tend to stay happy.
In addition to its place as a psychological phenomenon in our minds, our need to be constantly rewarded with a sense of stress is gradually working its way into our culture. We see evidence of this compulsion for activity everywhere around us; for example, the Wall Street-analyst-type who barrels down the sidewalk, eyes fixed to his BlackBerry, with no time for anyone or anything.
This urge to be constantly occupied isn’t confined to businessmen, either. A 2005 study showed that teens, on average, are occupied for over nine hours a day as they increasingly try to juggle homework with baseball, soccer and violin practice. With moms aggressively informing their counterparts of their kids’ overloaded agendas, it becomes a point of familial pride that everyone in the family is constantly on their toes.
It seems as though we are permanently consigned to a life of toil to get the happiness we seek. But all is not lost – fulfillment is not that hard to attain. Before you and I bury our heads in our books (or at least pretend to), try to achieve the same ends of feeling busy without resorting to the library. Go study out on the grass — being next to Sun God will probably improve your luck, anyway.