Procrastination Among Students
Authors:
Shivam Ingle (67)
Bhakti Mumbarkar (91)
Pratham Kadam (72)
Introduction:
Procrastination among students is a common problem in academic life. It refers to delaying or postponing tasks such as studying, completing assignments, or preparing for exams. Many students procrastinate due to a lack of motivation, poor time management, or distractions like social media. This habit can lead to stress, poor academic performance, and last-minute pressure. Understanding procrastination can help students develop better study habits and improve productivity.
Objective:
To understand the underlying issues of procrastination among students.
Literature review:
1. Smartphone Addiction and Academic Procrastination
The study by Diana Ann (2025) found a strong positive relationship between smartphone addiction and academic procrastination among undergraduate students. The results indicate that excessive smartphone use increases procrastination and negatively affects students’ academic productivity.
2. Self-Imposed Deadlines and Procrastination
The study by Kyle Hyndman and Alberto Bisin (2022) shows that individuals with self-control problems tend to procrastinate when completing effortful tasks with delayed rewards. However, self-imposed deadlines and commitment devices can help reduce procrastination and encourage earlier task completion.
Data collection:
For our problem, we frame the following 5 questions to be asked on a Likert scale
1. Difficult tasks make me procrastinate.
2. Far deadlines make me delay my work.
3. Feeling tired reduces my motivation to study.
4. Wanting perfect results makes me delay completing tasks.
5. Social media distractions make me postpone academic tasks.
The Google form was framed with linear options 1 as strongly disagree and 5 as strongly agree, for each question. The Google form was personally shared with our classmates and colleagues in confidence
After surveying 100 people’s responses were downloaded in excel sheet for each question, mean, standard deviation, Standard error, T stat wore calculated
Data analysis:
|
|
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Q5 |
|
Mean |
3.17 |
3.57 |
3.47 |
3.11 |
3.33 |
|
Standard Deviation |
1.15 |
1.17 |
1.14 |
1.04 |
1.27 |
|
Standard Error |
0.36 |
0.37 |
0.36 |
0.33 |
0.40 |
|
Z(t stat) |
0.47 |
1.54 |
1.30 |
0.33 |
0.82 |
|
Result |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Neutral |
Conclusion:
1. People are neutral toward difficult tasks causing procrastination.
2. People are neutral toward far deadlines causing delay in work.
3. People are neutral toward tiredness reducing motivation to study.
4. People are neutral toward perfectionism delaying task completion.
5. People are neutral toward social media distractions postponing academic tasks.
References:
Ann, D. (2025). Digital distraction and self-regulation failure: A study of smartphone addiction and academic procrastination among Indian undergraduates. Advances in Consumer Research, 2(5), 303–309.
Piers Steel (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94.