Time is Just a Four-Letter Word

 Ask any student in high school today about the significance of “time,” and I can guarantee no one will have enough of it to provide a proper answer.

Walk through the hallways on a typical weekday, and you will be able to spot a plenty of students who are completing last-minute assignments that they did not have enough time to finish beforehand. Students are always on the go-go-go, but why? It seems as though 24 hours in a day just is not enough.

The principle is fairly simple: We live in a world of instant replays, instant gratification and instant oatmeal. “Time” is a concept that is literally wasted on the young. Today’s normal teen keeps a schedule that seems unfathomable to the slower-paced generations of years past. However, it is just everyday life for the everyday teen.

The biggest challenge we face is sticking to our hectic schedules. For example, students attending school spend seven hours of their day filling their noggins with information, plus one or two hours studying at home. Add in extra-curricular activities (such as sports, clubs, etc.) and there goes another two hours. For seniors and juniors, part-time jobs can steal five more hours away from us per day. Family dinners? An hour. Religion class? Another hour. To keep our resumes looking sharp, add in volunteer opportunities. On the weekend, we might want to spend some time with those people we call friends. Then there is this thing called sleep, but no one I know takes that seriously.

Scientists, researchers, physicians and our parents are insisting that we are going to burn ourselves out. Perhaps this is true, but for many time-deprived students, this kind of life is simply expected so that we can become independent, grow up faster and to prove to the world that we aren’t just children. We are bombarded with expectations for a “successful” life enough to know that being idle truly is a sin these days. I personally have heard my fair share of lectures from Grandma about slowing things down and taking life one day at a time. I must have time to relax, you say? Let me check my schedule.

Editor's Note: Madison Dockter is a senior at Simley High School this spring. Her regular column on youth issues will appear on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.