College, especially the quarter system, leads one to live a very rushed life. I went from having readings due every day, new homework assignments every week, and tests to prepare for one after another, to now having absolutely nothing to do all day now that I'm home for summer. I have no school to prepare for, no work to go to, and no friends at home left to hang out with. So, I am left with an ample amount of time to kill.
Lately I've found myself turning to games on my phone- generally puzzle games like bejeweled or connect the dots or things like that. They are timed, have bright colors, and demand my full attention. These games create a sense of urgency and panic; it's a fight for your life, if only the life of the game. I imagine this must create a panic response in the body, and definitely involve part of the flight or flight reaction that gets people so worked up at times and can get their adrenaline flowing. There's no time to think in these games, it's all about animal instinct as you frantically race to beat the clock and win the game.
I think these games are so popular and addicting because we don't have to think. It gives us a break from the constant stream of thoughts, worries, ideas, and just endless jibber jabber inside our heads as we turn our full attention to a game that doesn't need words for us to solve. We're given a reprieve from our own conscious thoughts, and become addicted to the adrenaline rush. I also find myself feeling drawn to my phone and anxious without it, to the neglect of the current situation and experience, and I hate that this happens.
Looking for an alternative to games, I attempted to rediscover my love for reading. College assigns readings to do for nearly every class, but generally the readings are so overly academic and intellectual, I can't figure out what they're trying to say. Since completing the reading generally left me just as confused, if no more so, than I would be had I not done the reading and just waited to have it explain in class, pretty much everyone I knew gave up on attempting to read for classes after about the 3rd week, if they even made it that long. But I loved to read before college, so I took up a book my grandmother had given me at the start of the school year now that I finally have time from "required readings". And I've missed it.
I've realized that reading uses an entirely different part of the brain that makes it another appealing option to waste time with besides games. It's the counterpart to games, not distracting us from our conscious thoughts, but replacing them. Directing them perhaps into thinking about the words you are reading and what they mean. Instead of being subjected to our own inescapable stream of consciousness, we can instead fill it with the words in the book instead of those that spontaneously emerge into our minds. And since it takes some mental effort to digest the words you've read, it also tires out the mind and gives it something concrete to mull over instead of the hypotheticals that can be so agonizing in life.
So if you suffer from insomnia or just boredom, perhaps consider what your options are and what effect they can have on you. Video games might get your adrenaline pumping and probably wake you up more (a major negative if you're wasting time because you can't fall asleep), but occupy your full attention if you need to kill some time (like the waiting room, or DVM perhaps). Reading can tire you out and perhaps teach you something in the process. Each have their purpose, and both are enjoyable, but I've enjoyed rediscovering the world of potential hidden amongst the pages of a book. The things you learn from college....
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