“Gambling at Rick’s Place? I’m shocked!” – Casablanca- 1942
No one would be shocked to learn that more than a few college students waste a lot of time on social media activities. What may raise an eyebrow or two is that, as with many social media practices, blogging – if done right and well – can be a time saver and more for the enterprising scholar.
With the rapid expansion of online education as a critical component of virtually all college work, students are developing fundamental time-management skills they may not yet fully appreciate. Considering Shakespeare’s “…past is prologue..,” understanding this concept requires some historic perspective.
A short look back
For many who sat down to their first modern personal computer, the revolutionary technology manifest in that first machine initially led to a fairly common practice: playing games. Despite the fact that for the first time in all recorded history, workloads could be done with precision unimaginable beforehand, solitaire, arcade games and jokes of all colors ate up a lot of short-term productivity potential. But as we all know now, people gained skill and confidence in using a new form of technology, and they used both their newfound expertise and self-assurance to realize potentials perhaps unanticipated by even the creators of the modern PC. Odds are, blog usage is about to turn a familiar corner.
Match made in Heaven: Your Blog and Your GPA
In addition to the worthwhile, even noble motive of learning for the sake of learning, finding satisfaction in a career field is no less an honorable desire for anyone. Blogging with a little discipline can serve both ends by building supporting modes of access to both expertise in critical thinking skills and reflective research. To be unabashedly sarcastic, there’s already a famous social media site for sharing Spring Break anecdotes and funny videos, so taking just a little time from that activity and investing in a blog centered on your major area of study and career aspiration is highly justified.
Attracting a rich following of serious scholars in your field, subject matter experts who appreciate your interests and faculty who instruct in relevant courses can have short and long-term payoffs. By tapping into your chosen concentration on a deeper level than most experience from simply participating in classes, your access to trends and contemporary research can significantly reduce project research time while improving your depth of knowledge.
The very social nature of learning can also be realized by the building and active attention to one’s blog. Posts inviting suggestions or new efficiencies in locating resources or solving complex problems can benefit the blog owner who engages a community of followers attracted by thoughtful content and considerate interaction by that owner.
Time you already have
You’ve almost certainly enjoyed some frivolous moments on the internet and you almost certainly learned more than you knew at the time. Without making a significant investment of more time, using the hours you’re already spending online to make your studies better and more efficiently managed should be an easy choice.
