Back in Grade School, I had this habit of eating big meals during our 30-minute recess so I could do whatever I want during lunchtime. Actually, it was very easy for my friends to find me during that 1-hour break, because unlike other students, I won’t be walking and playing around the campus. I usually found myself within the comforts of the air-conditioned library, browsing through the pages of the books in the fiction, Filipiana, or arts section. It was also often that I came home with a borrowed book inside my backpack. I surely enjoyed reading during that time, until High School came and I lost many of my habits to technology. Up to now, I haven’t solved my reading vs. internet problem.
It recently came to me that in the last 5 years, I have unnecessarily devoted much of my free time to chatting and surfing the internet. Every time I arrive home from school, I usually go straight to the computer to check my mail, to chat, and to literally do useless things. In our home, there’s nothing unusual in seeing my brother and I fighting over the computer. It’s really become a senseless and unproductive habit that I now desperately want to get rid of. In place of this, I want to redevelop my long lost routine of reading books whenever I have the chance to. I actually think that my vocabulary sucks, and I really have to catch up on it. This is one of the reasons why I should get back to reading again. Honestly, I’ve already had some failed attempts to fix my reading vs. internet dilemma. I re-checked my New Year’s Resolution this year and this is what I found: “3. Read at least 1 novel once in 2 months.” I only have a few things written in my resolution, so since this is part of it, it shows that I’m fully aware of the value of reading. Ironically, I realized that my most recent resolution didn’t include anything about my excessive use of the internet. Somehow, it took me a very long time to find an association between the two. What I want to happen is for me to lose my habit of wasting my precious free time to doing nothing but repetitively clicking links to websites that I’m not supposed to care about. Specifically, after doing all my research and schoolwork that involves the use of the internet, I should not spend more than two hours chatting and surfing the net. Instead, I should start reading the books I haven’t touched since the day I put them on my shelf. For now, I would try to finish at least one book (that is not required in school) every two months, until I get accustomed to reading. After that, I will improve the ratio. I think 1:2 is the best I can do for now - I don’t want to set high standards that I won’t be able to reach.
Implementation would certainly be the hardest part in my learning and unlearning process. First of all, I’d have to decrease my usage of the internet. I would do this through negative punishment. If I notice myself repetitively checking my multiply, friendster, and email accounts even though nothing has really been updated since I last checked, then it’s time to stand up and unplug the modem in the other room. Also, I could act as a generous sister and simply let my brother to use his laptop (which interferes with my connection). This is a negative punishment because I also use the internet in researching and understanding my lessons more. Also, this is one of my means of communication with my family and friends abroad. If I’d temporarily lose my internet, then I would have to do with my printed sources here at home. I’ll also miss my loved ones that I don’t get to see everyday. However, this is the only way I could fix my internet problem now. Normally, I intertwine my research time with my unnecessary surfing time. I lose a lot of time to this habit, and many times it has led me to procrastination and stress. When I surf before studying, I am bothered by the fact that I still have unfinished stuff to do. I think I must learn how to prioritize and concentrate on doing what I really have to do before devoting time for other unbeneficial interests. Meanwhile, I would develop a reading habit also by operant conditioning. This time, I would use positive reinforcement. I would follow a continuous reinforcement schedule, with a fixed ratio of the number of times I read a book to the number of times I give myself a reward. It was very difficult to define a reward that could get me to read a book, but I finally decided that it would be a jacket. For every 4 books that I’d read, I will buy myself 1 jacket. The jacket is both a material and a secondary reinforcer, because it is an object that could possibly gain a person the appreciation of others. I love jackets, but my mom won’t buy me if there’s no special reason. This is why I chose this as a stimulus, because I know I wouldn’t receive the reward invariably. Also, this reinforcer would lose its sense if I could easily get it without association to the learning of my reading habit. The jacket is not the only reinforcer in this situation. As we all know, reading has lots of benefits, which all relate to knowledge and experience. These two would eventually result to an improved skill in writing, communicating, thinking, analyzing, and many more. I should be motivated to read more because I know it could improve how I think critically and how I relate to other people. Hopefully, later on this habit would continue because of an intrinsic reinforcement, instead of an extrinsic one. I don’t want to end up reading just because I want to get jackets or praises from people. After all, many books are enjoying to read.
1. C 2. C 3. C 4. C 5. C
It recently came to me that in the last 5 years, I have unnecessarily devoted much of my free time to chatting and surfing the internet. Every time I arrive home from school, I usually go straight to the computer to check my mail, to chat, and to literally do useless things. In our home, there’s nothing unusual in seeing my brother and I fighting over the computer. It’s really become a senseless and unproductive habit that I now desperately want to get rid of. In place of this, I want to redevelop my long lost routine of reading books whenever I have the chance to. I actually think that my vocabulary sucks, and I really have to catch up on it. This is one of the reasons why I should get back to reading again. Honestly, I’ve already had some failed attempts to fix my reading vs. internet dilemma. I re-checked my New Year’s Resolution this year and this is what I found: “3. Read at least 1 novel once in 2 months.” I only have a few things written in my resolution, so since this is part of it, it shows that I’m fully aware of the value of reading. Ironically, I realized that my most recent resolution didn’t include anything about my excessive use of the internet. Somehow, it took me a very long time to find an association between the two. What I want to happen is for me to lose my habit of wasting my precious free time to doing nothing but repetitively clicking links to websites that I’m not supposed to care about. Specifically, after doing all my research and schoolwork that involves the use of the internet, I should not spend more than two hours chatting and surfing the net. Instead, I should start reading the books I haven’t touched since the day I put them on my shelf. For now, I would try to finish at least one book (that is not required in school) every two months, until I get accustomed to reading. After that, I will improve the ratio. I think 1:2 is the best I can do for now - I don’t want to set high standards that I won’t be able to reach.
Implementation would certainly be the hardest part in my learning and unlearning process. First of all, I’d have to decrease my usage of the internet. I would do this through negative punishment. If I notice myself repetitively checking my multiply, friendster, and email accounts even though nothing has really been updated since I last checked, then it’s time to stand up and unplug the modem in the other room. Also, I could act as a generous sister and simply let my brother to use his laptop (which interferes with my connection). This is a negative punishment because I also use the internet in researching and understanding my lessons more. Also, this is one of my means of communication with my family and friends abroad. If I’d temporarily lose my internet, then I would have to do with my printed sources here at home. I’ll also miss my loved ones that I don’t get to see everyday. However, this is the only way I could fix my internet problem now. Normally, I intertwine my research time with my unnecessary surfing time. I lose a lot of time to this habit, and many times it has led me to procrastination and stress. When I surf before studying, I am bothered by the fact that I still have unfinished stuff to do. I think I must learn how to prioritize and concentrate on doing what I really have to do before devoting time for other unbeneficial interests. Meanwhile, I would develop a reading habit also by operant conditioning. This time, I would use positive reinforcement. I would follow a continuous reinforcement schedule, with a fixed ratio of the number of times I read a book to the number of times I give myself a reward. It was very difficult to define a reward that could get me to read a book, but I finally decided that it would be a jacket. For every 4 books that I’d read, I will buy myself 1 jacket. The jacket is both a material and a secondary reinforcer, because it is an object that could possibly gain a person the appreciation of others. I love jackets, but my mom won’t buy me if there’s no special reason. This is why I chose this as a stimulus, because I know I wouldn’t receive the reward invariably. Also, this reinforcer would lose its sense if I could easily get it without association to the learning of my reading habit. The jacket is not the only reinforcer in this situation. As we all know, reading has lots of benefits, which all relate to knowledge and experience. These two would eventually result to an improved skill in writing, communicating, thinking, analyzing, and many more. I should be motivated to read more because I know it could improve how I think critically and how I relate to other people. Hopefully, later on this habit would continue because of an intrinsic reinforcement, instead of an extrinsic one. I don’t want to end up reading just because I want to get jackets or praises from people. After all, many books are enjoying to read.
1. C 2. C 3. C 4. C 5. C
No comments:
Post a Comment