An Writer's Analysis (with a bit of Psychology behind it)

I know that last time I promised a third instillation on the concept of procrastination and the deeper roots it has in human nature.  However, by order of the higher powers (okay, fine, my teacher), I will analyze my writing so far in this blog.

For the intents and purposes of this blog, I will use the second post, "Are You Afraid?" and the fourth post, "I'll Get to It......Eventually."  I believe that the former is the strongest of my blog posts, while the latter is one of my weaker ones.  Of course this is completely subjective so if anyone thinks otherwise, feel free to comment.

Anyways, of what I believe is working (between both of these posts):

I think the increased personal tone of the second post in comparison to the first serves as a much better.  The analogy and comparisons used in the first post were also extremely beneficial to the quality of the writing.  I also prefer the idea of having a conclusive resolve at the end of the post, rather than stretching a concept throughout a few weeks, surprisingly enough, procrastination is a subject that is actually very, very deep. The objectivity of the first post also improved the quality of the content.

As to what is not working:

The tone in the second post was also rather informal, which limited me.  The lack of conclusions as of late has not worked out too well also.  Also, when giving examples or anecdotes, I believe too much of the post focuses on that rather than the analysis.  While this may be more entertaining, I must find a way to balance out content and style.

So what exactly are the improvements I want to do?

Well, first off, more creativity in the blog post formats would be a great idea.  I liked writing that analogy for the "Fear" post, and I think ideas like that are ones that I should pursue. Secondly, focusing on deeper analysis for more penetrating content would be a good stride as well.  Other than that, varied syntax and deeper resolves would give my work a much stronger voice.

If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know.  I am writing this out of my own musings, but I am certainly not closed to what other people want to read as well.

I'll Get to It....Eventually (Part 2)

So apparently, no one commented on the last blog post (as of this date anyway), and while I must admit my feelings are a bit hurt, but is it really expected.  To be honest, this blog post is pretty much me forcing myself to suck it up and start writing, so here I am.  Would it be fun any other way? (Yeah, probably)

Anyways, right down to business -- procrastination -- what drives it?  What makes it so ridiculously impossible to do the work that you need to well ahead of time?

Well, one of the ideas that did come to mind earlier was pressure.  Personally, I believe that pressure is required to create work of greatest quality.  It seems like a contradiction, I know, but it is there.  What significance is put into work if there is little to no pressure forcing the issue?  There usually is none, unless a person was obsessed with doing their best with every little project or piece they create.  While that is ideal, the world is not that perfect and people are never that hardworking, so the point is moot. (Yes this is a generalization, but I doubt anyone can argue it is not an accurate one)

However, I do not believe pressure is the biggest deterrent of staying on task when one is supposed to stay on task. The more effective reason behind it, I believe, is the idea that humans, or at least those in Western civilization, are innately rebellious. When someone tells you to do something, do you not have a twinge of deviance?  Even when superiors do give commands, humans will try constantly to escape doing it.

But I believe this delves more into human nature's basic anti-authority instincts.  But are these instincts truly innate or are they developed?  As stated earlier, Eastern society does not follow the same ideal as the West.  However, before there is a resolve, I will continue this analysis into the next entry.

A Teenager's Best Friend (Part I)

I am really, really tired right now and I understand that this blog post is a little late, so I am going to cover exactly why this blog post is a little late (and probably why I am very, very tired).

How many times have you made a New Years' Resolution or a promise or something similar and repeated the mantra "I'm not going to procrastinate" over and over and over again.  And how many times have you written a sentence in your essay before flashing back to Facebook or the internet and finding out that you have wasted about five hours reading funny statuses?

If you answer "none," "never," or "zero" to the previous questions, I am going to say this right now -- either you are a magical mutant-genius alien or you are lying -- I do not think it takes long to figure out which one I am leaning towards.

Of course, it is not only teenagers -- even when you are forty, you will find yourself waiting till the absolute last second to go down to the bank and sort out the house bills.  (Just something I picked up on television in general, not from personal experience, I swear)  But it is extremely prevalent in our young and naive age, when we will constantly convince ourselves that we still have time to do something until the final moment comes.

Is it because we need the pressure to force us to start working?  Or are we just that opposed to doing any work?  What part of humanity makes it so we cling to machines to take care of all the dirty work?

Perhaps it is simply the way we are raised, to always find the easiest way out.  Or maybe we just do not understand the imperative that has been placed upon us?

It is an interesting psychological and philosophical question to delve into.  But because it is late and I cannot post a full analysis without looking like an idiot, let me ask you, the reader, what do you think makes us not tick?  What keeps us wanting to be distracted from the cold, hard truth?

Are You Afraid?

So, imagine for a second, you are in a crowd of people, many of which you do not know, but some you do.  Then suddenly, one of your friends comes and tells you that the crowd is about to be captured by, let's say, the government.  You ask where did they find that out, and they will tell you they heard it from someone in the front of the crowd.

Now, if this is true, you do not have much time.  You have to let everyone know what is going on, to warn everyone that something disastrous is about to occur.  You tell the person next to you, the one in front of you, the people behind you, and you make sure that they spread the word around to everyone else.

Phase three of what happens is that people begin to panic.  They begin to ask "Why is this happening?" and "We need to get out!"  The crowd becomes restless, and eventually, the second someone says something different, they are immediately ignored.  Finally, the fuse it set off -- everyone begins to act frantically, run around, and freak out about imprisonment.

That is until one lone person stands up, yells at everyone to stop, and directs everyone to point their blame on the government.

And there you have it -- alas, fear prevails again.  Well actually, that was also a demonstration of mob psychology (a different topic for another day).  Did anyone bother to ask if there was any other evidence besides spoken word?  Or how about looking at another perspective, at an argument that stated that the metaphorical British were not coming?

This is the way fear works -- to wrap around the mind and touch the irrational -- is all too effective at dictating what people do.  After all, why else would anyone throw salt over their shoulder if they did not feel the world was out to spite them.

The ability of fear to triumph over reason has been used throughout history for the good and the bad (and the grey).  And it has been used to create extreme intrigue, topple empires, establish religions, and even to this day, fear encourages parents to train their children with Mozart in the womb, if only for their bloodline's failure.

As a psychological tool, it can be used to determine the composure of any human being, or to persuade any person to bring others to their side, no matter how ridiculous it is.  Such was the case in the youth of America, where young women who were considered different fell victim to the fear of colonists -- and thus were hanged as witches on the grounds of Salem.

But whether it be "government death panels" or "global warming is burning the world," fear will always be one of the strongest deterrents and rally points in any civilization.  An achilles' heel for the logical and the plain, while extremely neurotic and sadly persistent, is an integral part of the human condition.

Welcome to Me

I am absolutely positive that a lot of people who decide to read this find it tedious to go through long blocks of text and complex sentences, no matter how much they matter.  So maybe by pointing this out, I will keep readers  through the first paragraph and all the way into the introduction.  I certainly hope so anyway.

Through the small amount of time I have been on this Earth, I have realized that writing introductions are an art all in themselves.  People who read the content after an introduction usually do not care for it, while those that read the introduction usually do not care for the content.  But I do not claim to be a master of content or introductions so it is rather foolhardy for me to introduce this.  But here I go.

This blog is about one very broad subject - social psychology.  Simply put, what will be posted here are my observations of the world, any observations, of any given subject.  Social psychology has given me that luxury - to observe and analyze the way people act and react depending on the situation.

But I am simply a teenage boy, like my title implies.  I cannot say that my word is gospel, or that my observations and analysis is the correct one.  But human nature grants the wonderful ability to have freedom of thought - to think and not be judged for it.

At least, until I start posting those thoughts.  Then the public is has its own right to judge those ideas.

But back to the point of this blog, I will be covering my ideas on how people act and why they decide to act that way.  The reasons, the results, the reactions and the far-reaching consequences are all concepts which I will attempt to cover, depending on the post.

Of course, I will not always go through all of that, nor will I attempt to.  I only want to write clearly and honestly.  And I hope that, if only for a second, I will manage to get people to listen, think and feel.

The fantastic English writer Oscar Wilde wrote over a century ago that "All words are quite useless."  I will prove this to be an exception to the rule.