The Art Of Balancing Academic Life In The Age Of Instantaneous Access
Anyone who has ever been a student knows that this is very much an experience that is somehow both familiar and entirely unique depending largely on the individual who is navigating their way through the experience. Education is quite literally designed and intended to challenge and reward us through an incredible amount of attention to detail and overall emphasis surrounding not just what it can offer in the moment but in what it offers the individual’s academic, intellectual, and even personal horizons. And now, in the digital era, being a student is again being given more attention and emphasis as the world recognises that this modern age in academics is one that is being driven more by digital and technological innovation and implementation, than ever before. In this, the age of instantaneous access, there is a surplus of information around us all the time, right at the very tips of our fingers. It can be overwhelming, to say the least. So, how does one achieve a school balance?
Successfully achieving and maintaining academic life has always been something of a balancing act (of course). However, in the digital era, an age where we have an overwhelming (to say the least) surplus of information at our very fingertips at all times, achieving and maintaining balance successfully as a student has never been so important or so challenging. The art of academic balance is one that is all about knowing where your personal limits lie, how you are going to set boundaries around those limitations, where (and if) you have wiggle room anywhere, and how you are going to maintain those boundaries in as healthy, meaningful, and sustainable a way as possible. For so many students, this is very much a process of trial and error - and that is entirely okay. In fact, trial and error is, in so many ways, the entire point of pursuing balance not just as a higher education student but as a human being navigating their way through life. This is a wonderful lesson.
The ongoing advancement and enhancement of academic balance has sometimes been easier for some individuals than it is for others. Of course, this is always going to be the nature of it all, given the fact that different individuals just generally act and react differently to different situations. Taking time away from course content and study sessions can be and so often is a saving grace for students - especially when the high points of semesters and deadlines roll around. And balance comes from actively and consistently pursuing what makes you happy and what brings you joy. Some students engage in casino online games. Others read. Some students spend quality time with their family. Others pour themselves into their hobbies. Some individuals go out with their friends. And some individuals work on passion projects. Whatever the trajectory towards successfully achieving and maintaining school balance is for a student, so long as it is healthy, meaningful, and sustainable, it is worthwhile.
Academic life is designed and intended to challenge you. However, it is incredibly important to recognise and to remember that it is not and should not ever be designed and intended to break you. Finally, now more than ever, we are seeing students put in the energy and take the time to effectively and successfully prioritise academic balance - even if that means taking the initiative to step back when typically they would dive deeper into a stressful study session or the like. And stepping forward into the future and beyond, the active and ongoing pursuit of academic balance is going to be driven further to the forefront for students across the board and around the globe..just as it always should have been. This is the time for change. The art of balancing academic life in the age of instantaneous access is very much a learning curve. We are still living in the beginnings of the digital era.
As such, we are still becoming comfortable and familiar with the fact that we do have more access to practically anything and everything than we ever have before. And while for the most part and in most cases this is a positive, it also does require quite a lot of circumstantial navigation. For students in the digital era, successfully achieving and maintaining balance in school and in their life in general is just as much about being willing and able to maintain boundaries as it is about setting them in the first place. This in and of itself can take a bit of trial and error, however it is and always will be a worthwhile goal. The further we dive into the digital era and beyond, the more instrumental it is going to become for students to focus on balance. For so many generations, this is just the tip of the iceberg. The best (and the unknown) is still yet to come.