The Addiction to Overworking in Academia
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
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If you could take a drug that would free you of all distractions and leave you perfectly focused on your PhD, would you take it? The only catch is, you no longer feel emotion when you’re on it…
Welcome to Libria, the dystopia in the 2002 film Equilibrium, where to prevent war and crime, all citizens inject themselves daily with a drug - Prozium - to shut off all feelings. Everyone functions highly and bumbles along well enough, but at what cost? Here I explore the parallels between the culture of overworking in academia and of a fictional society where no one feels. There are many…
New video every (other) Wednesday, but I’m on holiday now for two weeks! Please comment to request a topic you’d like to see discussed.
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I’m Lucy Kissick, I’m a second year PhD student at the University of Oxford, and this channel is where I discuss difficult and uncomfortable matters in postgraduate affairs, tips I’ve picked up, and misadventures I’ve gathered along the way. I study Mars but wish I could live on Pluto, some parts of the Equilibrium soundtrack are in four figures in my iTunes, and if you see big purple bushes this time of year go and smell them, they’re called lilacs and they’re incredible.
Got a question for me?
Twitter: @LeKissick
Website: www.lucykissick.co.uk
Email: lucy.kissick@earth.ox.ac.uk
It’s a fantastic outlook you have. Some people get off on keeping their nose to the grindstone 24/7 and thrive on the pressure of academia, but that just wasn’t me. I’ll always be proud that I managed to finish and even got 3 papers (10? You must be joking!) in decent mid-tier journals (one of which I now edit!) as a bonus, but I never want to have to work that hard again.
I'm glad to hear that a PhD might be the hardest you ever have to work, this gives me hope! Thank you for showing some light at the end of the tunnel, and nice one on the papers and journal editing!
The PhDiaries Thanks! As an editor, I did enjoy your video on why your paper was rejected!
I don’t know whether being a postdoc would have had the same workload as being a PhD student, perhaps not, but by the end I didn’t want to do research any more.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the hardest I worked was when I was writing my thesis. It also happened to be the most enjoyable part of my PhD, which admittedly isn’t the case for everyone. I just happened to be in quite a good position in that I didn’t need any more results by the time I started writing. It was also helpful not having my supervisor pressuring me for new data in the same way, so I was able to just get my head down and write.
Thanks for Your Perspective Ms. PhDiaries . Inducing thought as always .
I have to agree, I'd take it too. Sadly, working full time and doing a dissertation does feel like I'm the metaphorical frog in the water slowly boiling to death. Hang in there, you have an interesting channel.
Thank goodness prozium doesn't really exist. It really does sound like a dystopian hell! You are so right that we have to make our own choices about work/life balance. I think this applies to all areas of work not just academic study. I for one choose to enjoy feeling the fun things life has to offer (well I try). It's not time wasted, so there should be no guilt.
Thanks for the thought provoking vlog. Enjoy your holiday, hiking and swimming, etc. Don't forget to dance to Taylor Swift.. 👍🏻😉
Thanks so much for your insightful comment! Yes, this video could definitely be about any type of work, not just academia.
"The time you enjoy wasting is not time wasted" - Marthe Troly-Curtin. One to remember when the guilt starts seeping in. And I'll be sure to dance to Taylor Swift on my holiday! :D
I have Aspergers and Depression and Anxiety . I take Prozac and meds , but now it's all just an even dull grey . Feeling no emotions would probably be better than Depression and Anxiety . With My Aspergers I started in Electronics at age 7 , by 8.5 years old I knew all of the electrical components , the Resistor Color Codes and I had finally figured out why a Transistor has three leads instead of just 2 or 4 . Feeling Nothing might be more fun than being just a dull grey all the time , I would hope that I would stay a Progressive/Liberal . I'd expect that I would stay logically Progressive/Liberal because it makes sense for Humanity to be Progressive for All Humans and Life .
Thank you so much for your comment. This is exactly why I'm never scathing of the thought of feeling no emotions to get by -- when I'm at my lowest, and the thought of being happy seems so far away, I'd take prozium just to numb the aching hole depression gnaws inside you. I was on Prozac once too, so my comment about its 'numbing effects' was not one said lightly. I hope it gets better for you -- I switched medication and eventually found one that, instead of numbing me or making me worse, helped me function. And that was the first step in living again, and heading back towards a life with normal amounts of happiness.
I'm glad You're feeling better . Keep Kicking butt and Thanks for brining Us on this Journey with You and sharing Successes and Failures and Insights . :)
I have a problem with laziness. I would take it for the remainder of my undergraduate programme then come off it or come back on it again If I choose to do a PhD lol
I would like to propose that with the prozium nobody would care about being successful
that serum would cure lazyness aswell ? if yes i would take it.
Have Fun and Be Safe on Holliday .
Thank you :)
Lovely.
What if we are feeling besides?
You mean even if we're on the drug and still feel? As a massive Equilibrium fan I can attest that the director did say the drug was meant to 'numb' emotions, meaning that sometimes the very strongest cannot be removed entirely. It would be pretty rubbish to have the worst of both worlds in that case -- be barely able to feel except the most debilitatingly strong, and live in a world where nobody else was feeling either.
I like the Idea of having balance between prozium (PhD) time and life (weekend), and I started to act on the same like no work on the weekend. Even here in Korea life of PhD student is expected to be so busy, and advisers feel free to see us intensely busy on the weekends too! Thank you for sharing your ideas with people ans especially with PhD students like us. God bless you!
Hello lucy,
Thats a very nice video, but in my opinion it shows to the viewer that a man/woman doesnt enjoy him/hershelf while conducting his/her phD. And thats a completely wrong starting point. Anyone should be filled with joy when conducting scientific research and experiments. Hard work doesnt mean less emotions. It could mean a lot of disappointment xaxaxaxa... . But thats the point right... Find out things and make the world better.