As the academic workload reaches its peak this semester, effective procrastination techniques are vital to maintain sanity and chill out. Before the looming due dates of your projects and papers and [gasp] finals, it is necessary to revel as long as possible in the blissful state of in-between time. However, you may find yourself bored with the same old mainstream social media sites. Are you sick of being bombarded with your “friends'” facebook statuses and tweets containing uninformed opinions, ridiculous complaints and annoying minute details of their everyday lives? Here are some sites you may not be aware of that can entertain you, and fulfill your wide range of interests, for hours on end.
Devour.com
According to this site, “72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute,” but, through a process of filtering and hand picking videos, Devour only displays the best ones, most of which are in HD. With a simple, clean design, you can surf videos randomly and watch popular videos without putting forth any effort, and no comments are allowed, so you can “enjoy the peace and quiet of not having to wade through all the brilliant critiques from this great nation’s junior high masterminds.” Check it out for videos with “Fewer cute kittens, fewer nutshots, fewer laughing babies and lots more awesome.”
Uncrate.com
Uncrate is the “leading buyer’s guide for men” made by the same people who created Devour, AND it is also on Time’s “50 Best Websites 2012″ list. Basically, this website is an online magazine with tons of stuff (almost 10,000 items) guys would love to have. Five new things are posted every weekday and, with over 10 million page views each month, it’s “one of the largest men’s publications, both online and in print.”
Woot.com
This site presents great deals every day in a creative way. Through wacky product descriptions that are amusing by themselves, the website encourages “(almost) unfiltered community discussion about that cheap stuff.”
Mentalfloss.com
“Where knowledge junkies get their fix.” On this site, you can justify your procrastination with the expansion of your random knowledge base. Mental Floss is actually a well-written magazine that provides “feature stories to make you smile” and allows you to “feed your right brain,” “nurture your left brain,” “indulge your scattered brain” and “learn to spin the globe.”
Lifehacker.com
Lifehacker has all sorts of useful information for your everyday life. Examples of some articles include “Top 10 DIY Repairs and Upgrades to Make Your Smartphone Last Forever,” “Best Earbuds” and “From Saucy Pics to Passwords: How to Share Sensitive Information Over the Internet.” On this site, there is a plethora of advice to help you in every aspect of your life, while providing intense amusement.
BigThink.com
This blog and video site covers everything imaginable, perfect for you liberal arts students who want to learn about a wide range of topics. According to the Time article, “It’s a great place to go to challenge your preconceived notions and recharge your mental batteries.” What a productive way to procrastinate.
