Top 10 Websites to Distract You From Your Studies
By Aimee Hosler | December 16th, 2011
It's 11 p.m. and you should be working on your business presentation (MBA degrees don't earn themselves, you know), but as you boot up your computer, you find yourself doing anything but. You aren't alone. Students have been known to lose hours of productivity just surfing the Internet. If you are going to squander away valuable study time, however, you might as well ensure you are visiting some of the most entertaining sites around. These top 10 websites to distract you from your studies are an excellent start, but don't blame us when you're scrambling to finish your presentation later.
10 websites worth the distraction
1. Cracked.com
With articles like "6 Terrifying Emergency Escape Pods (That Aren't Worth It)" and "6 Happy Endings That Accidentally Screwed The Movie's Hero," Cracked.com is an addicting mesh of comedy and fascinating-if-useless humor.
2. Facebook.com
Move over fantasy football, there's a bigger time-leech in town. If U.S. companies lose $28 billion in productivity a year to Facebook as some experts suggest, imagine what it can do for your productivity.
Is your real life lacking comedic relief? Find it in the virtual world with this not-your-average-sketch-comedy site FunnyOrDie, which regularly features big names like Will Farrell and James Franco.
4. YouTube.com
After all these years, YouTube is still the king of viral video sites, and with good reason: From cats playing the piano to motorcycle wipe-outs, you can find footage of just about anything your heart desires (and a lot of things it doesn't) here.
5. Hulu.com
You know all those TV shows you have sidelined for school? With Hulu, you can procrastinate by watching them on your computer.
Whatever blackmail photos your mom is saving for your wedding day, they are likely not nearly as humiliating as some of the shots displayed on this site. From babies posed in gigantic wine glasses to entire bridal parties sporting shot guns, AwkwardFamilyPhotos lives up to its name.
7. FailBlog.org
Don't let the .org extension fool you--FailBlog's only official business is making you laugh. Browse through and rate some of the Web's biggest failures via photos, videos and news stories.
8. Fark.com
Fark's motto is, "We don't make news, we mock it." This aggregate news site pulls stories from all across the Web that will make you laugh, squirm or cry. Labels like "Cool," "Strange," and the ever-popular "Florida" make surfing the nonsense a snap.
9. XKCD.com
If smart humor is your thing, check out this self-described "webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language." Created by a physics graduate, XKCD is one part comedy, two parts brilliance.
10. TheOnion.com
Someone once said you can't spell satire without The Onion, a statement that in all its ridiculousness actually sums up this faux news site quite well.
Brush up your time management skills
Browsing the web is cheap entertainment--a welcome reprieve to anyone on a college budget--but at the end of the day your primary focus should be completing your school work. That means separating work from play. This is especially true for those attending online colleges--these students do their work on the computer as well as chat and interact with students and professors there. This is precisely why it is so important to develop expert time management skills early in your college career. Invest in organizational tools, like a daily planner, an iPhone productivity app or even a good old-fashioned white board. Keep your work area clean and distraction-free. And most importantly, plan your schedule and stick to it--your GPA should soon reflect your awesome time-management skills.
