Joanna Sobierska‑Paczesny Biology Project

Mika was frustrated beyond words. It was all just too much. She threw her notebook at the wall. “Who cares? I’ll just get an F. Not worth it.” She was a morning personmorning personmorning person, not a night owlnight owlnight owl, and 11 p.m. was not her productiveproductiveproductive time. She flopped on her bed and grabbed her phone to text Megs. Megs always understood. Megs was always there when she needed her. It worked both ways, of course. When Megs had a fight with her brother (which happened a lot these days), she texted Mika and they talked for hours. They generally talked for hours or sent each other cute pictures of squirrels. They both loved squirrels.

Like today. Mika had been browsing the internet searching for materials for her biology project. Booooring. But she distracted herselfdistracted herself [distract oneself]distracted herself by looking at her favourite meme website and she found some squirrels she sent Megs, just when she needed them because her brother had made her cry again. The moment they finished exchanging texts, and Mika was about to return to her research, mom demanded some help with laundry and dishes. Then Jack called to talk about Megs’ surprise birthday party.

It was almost two hours later when she got back to biology, but got stuckgot stuck [get stuck]got stuck again. She really should have started working on it when it was assigned. It wasn’t her style though. People put their tasks in calendars, prioritisedprioritised [prioritise]prioritised and planned them, and claimed it helped them. How? She had no idea. She wasn’t lazy. (1) ______ Her phone beepedbeeped [beep]beeped every few minutes demanding her attentiondemanding her attention [demand somebody’s attention]demanding her attention, her house chores awaited. It was 11 p.m. already and the research was barely started, she’d still need to read through it, plan her presentation, and then actually create it. Not enough time. Oh, well… Mom opened the door, making Mika jump up, which sent her phone flying. Mom looked at it and back at Mika.

“Are you done with that biology project?”

“Weeell…,” Mika was trying to come up withcome up withcome up with an excuseexcuseexcuse.

“You’re not but you’re spending your time on social media or some silly videos once again, aren’t you? These things are such a distractiondistractiondistraction!”

“Mom, I can’t do this project anyway. It’s too difficult, so what’s the pointwhat’s the pointwhat’s the point? Plus, I’m tired and I need some downtime.”downtimedowntime.”

“Well, if you start by underestimating your abilitiesunderestimating your abilities [underestimate one’s abilities]underestimating your abilities and dividing your attentiondividing your attention [divide one’s attention]dividing your attention between ten different things simultaneouslysimultaneouslysimultaneously, then there’s no point whatsoeverthere’s no point whatsoeverthere’s no point whatsoever.  (2) ___,” said mom with less anger and more concern now.

“But I don’t. I’ve tried. A few times. And I’m stuck,” moanedmoaned [moan]moaned Mika resignedlyresignedlyresignedly.

“But you do! Trust me, I know. You’ve got my genes,” smiled mom.“Well, I don’t know how you do it. I can’t.”

Mom was, in fact, famous for being able to shut off the worldshut off the worldshut off the world and do anything she put her mind toput her mind to [put one’s mind to something]put her mind to.

“For starters, I don’t do a few things at once, switching back and forthswitching back and forth [switch back and forth]switching back and forth. It’s distracting. It ruins my focus. I try to minimizeminimizeminimize distractions. I disable notificationsdisable notifications [disable a notification]disable notifications on my phone, I don’t browse the net and so on. (3) ___ You and dad included,” she laughed. But she wasn’t joking.

“Mom, I can't just turn off my social media notifications. How would people get in touch with me?”

“Oh, but see, that’s the point. It’s part of what they call digital minimalismdigital minimalismdigital minimalism.”

“Digital what???”

“Minimalism,” laughed mom, seeing Mika’s incredulousincredulousincredulous face. “It’s looking at what you get out of your digital tools like the phone, social media, internet videos, etc. and asking yourself: “How important is it?” Do you know your squirrel videos? They’re cute, but are they as important as your biology grade? And all the chatting on social media? Is that more important than talking to me or studying for your exams? I’m not saying do not to talk to your friends!” she held up her hands, seeing Mika’s face. “No! (4) ___ And as for friends, get together and talk face‑to‑face when you’re done. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Easier said than done,” mutteredmuttered [mutter]muttered Mika unconvincedunconvincedunconvinced.

“Ok, true. Do you want me to help you? Over tea and cookies?”

Mika laughed.

“You know how to get people to do what you want, don’t you?”

1 Źródło: Joanna Sobierska‑Paczesny, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.