[suprasanna]

As a University student in the States, I can say that, other than academics themselves, this is mostly propagated by a "I slept fewer hours than you so clearly I work harder look at me and feel bad I'm so stressed kbye" mindset. I have seen many times people waiting to tweet or Facebook something right before bed to prove to the world (and elicit responses) that they were up till an ungodly hour.

It's similar to what happens in adulthood when everyone compares how "busy" they are 24/7 and display it as if it's a badge of pride.

[wlesieutre]

David Hansson (of Ruby on Rails) wrote about this five years ago from a software developer's perspective, and I saw a ton of it in college. It's not just in science/technology majors either, friends in things like education were bragging about all nighters they pulled to get papers done just as much as the compsci students.

Not much has changed, and I have no idea what could be done about this problem. With a few exceptions, everyone who does this could be working much more effectively if they managed their time better and got enough sleep, but there's resistance to doing that because it's considered "normal" to be in the computer lab until 2 AM. And if you leave a 9 it's because everyone else is more dedicated than you are.

It's almost like a more freeform version of a 9-5 workday with people judging you based on how much time you put in, except there aren't any limitations on how long you can spend. And it's friends and peers you're trying to impress instead of your boss. That obsession with trying to impress friends by working all night seems tightly tied to the rise of social networking sites.

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1006-sleep-deprivation-is-not...

[suprasanna]

I'd agree with you that not much can be done because it's not like education is advocating this take on studying per se, it's just a relic that gets passed down through the various waves of freshmen every year.

To this end, for those so inclined, Cal Newport is the author of a great book (How to be a Straight A student) that had good ways to force yourself into a schedule that limits your studying time (good thing!) while still giving you the results you want. Lots of willpower required but was well worth the effort for me (took a bunch of failures until I got it right).

[up_and_up]

> I have no idea what could be done about this problem

Um, how about judging people based on the quality and quantity of work/projects/whatever they produce, rather then what times of the day and for how long their rear ends are sitting at 'work'?

Destination > Journey ?

[wlesieutre]

Obviously, but try telling that to all of the world's office managers. Or try convincing college students that staying up all night to get a project done isn't going to impress anyone. Knowing what to fix doesn't mean you can implement it easily.

[suprasanna]

Agreed. Also part of the issue: staying up all night DOES impress (just not to professors aka no impact on your grade). Students stay up late with friends; complain about 90% of the time; plan fun stuff to do 'after they study'.

And so, in a weird way, pretending to be super-busy has its rewards. And this is part of why the problem even exists.

[up_and_up]

> Or try convincing college students that staying up all night to get a project done isn't going to impress anyone

Who cares fundamentally what other students/peers are doing? Focus on yourself, your own goals/aspirations, go out and achieve it. Stop worrying about what other people think or do.

[wlesieutre]

That's a solution for an individual person, not the problem as a whole. I don't do it, but you need to convince millions of people that staying up late is a actually problem, and isn't worth doing to impress people.

It's like saying "I've got an easy solution to HIV. Just have all the HIV+ people stop having sex or sharing needles and it'll be gone in a generation." It might be true, but you can't just wish it into happening.