Is Procrastination an Addiction? Research Has Some Interesting Answers.

That is a question we often encounter on the internet, with people asking questions like, “Why is procrastinating so addictive?” And “is procrastination an addiction?”

People who suffer from chronic procrastination frequently assimilate their behavior to addiction because procrastination appears to be an addictive habit that cannot be broken or escaped.

No, procrastination is not considered an addiction from a clinical standpoint, nor does it meet all the criteria to be considered an addiction. However, procrastination shares some characteristics with addiction, particularly the inability of people to stop their behavior despite the harmful consequences.

You may think you are addicted to procrastination because, just like a drug addict, you feel gratification and relief when engaging in this habit.

So, do experts need to rethink whether or not procrastination should be considered an addiction, just like compulsive shopping and problematic gambling ?

Let’s review the literature and scientific evidence to answer this tricky question.

Addiction and Procrastination: Is Procrastination a Form of Addiction?

Let’s start with some definitions to understand the possible connection between the two phenomena.

What Is Addiction?

Many definitions exist regarding addiction. According to the NHS: “Addiction is defined as not having control over doing, taking, or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you”.

Another, more comprehensive definition refers to addiction as ” a compulsive, chronic need for a habit-forming substance or behavior having harmful effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms upon withdrawal or abstinence.”

What Is Procrastination?

Procrastination is defined as the habit of delaying tasks or activities unnecessarily and voluntarily, despite the negative consequences of doing so.

Let’s go over the various components of addiction and see if they fit the description of procrastination.

1. Impaired control: an addicted person has very little control over their urges and behaviors. This is why a drug addict can’t help taking dangerous substances despite the risks.

In procrastination, we often see avoidance instead, which means that you tend to avoid engaging in certain tasks and activities because of the perceived discomfort or difficulty. Procrastination may get out of control, and just like with addictions, you may feel like you can’t get yourself to do what’s necessary.

So, in short, just like addicted people, procrastinators may suffer from impaired self-control, which makes them delay important tasks despite negative consequences. Although the compulsions and impaired self-control associated with procrastination are typically considered less strong and pervasive than those associated with addiction.

2. Engaging in the behavior despite its harmful effects: this is another manifestation of impaired control; an addicted person still takes illicit substances and engages in the behavior despite the destructive effects they have on them and their surroundings. For instance, a compulsive gambler will keep gambling despite the devastating effects their behavior has on their family and loved ones. They can go totally bankrupt but still manage to get the money to gamble.

This characteristic can also be found in chronic procrastination. For instance, your procrastination may have significant negative effects on your social and professional lives; you may be on the brink of divorce or losing your job because of it, but you still can’t change your behavior.

3. Physical and psychological dependance: this describes the mental and physical components that come up with addictions.

Dependence usually involves

Strong craving: you have a strong and uncontrollable desire for the substance or behavior and difficulty thinking about anything else.
Withdrawal symptoms: these are the mental and physical symptoms that you experience when you stop the substance or behavior. Some of these symptoms include restlessness, anxiety, tremors, etc.

This component is missing in procrastination, meaning that you can’t be physically or psychologically dependent on procrastination. You don’t crave delaying things, despite the fact that you do so on a regular basis.

Generally speaking, procrastinators don’t feel a strong craving or desire for procrastination, and when they don’t procrastinate, they won’t experience physical or mental symptoms.

This last component of addiction is what mainly differentiates procrastination from addiction.

Can You Be Addicted to Procrastination?

No, you cannot become addicted to procrastination because addiction involves physical and/or psychological dependence on a substance or behavior. In this sense, you cannot develop dependence on procrastination or experience craving and withdrawal symptoms like you do with addiction.

Does Procrastination Share Characteristics with Addiction?

Yes, procrastination and addiction share many common characteristics.

Common characteristics are :

Both can become chronic habits that persist despite their harmful consequences.
Both involve impaired self-control, impulsivity, and a deficit in emotional regulation.
Both share relatively identical goals: seeking pleasure, providing relief, or avoiding discomfort and pain.

The Relationship Between Addiction and Procrastination: What Does the Research Say?

Now that we know that procrastination is not a form of addiction, at least from a clinical standpoint, let’s have a look at scientific findings regarding the link between the two.

Numerous studies have found a high association between procrastination and “pathological Internet usage,” or internet addiction, suggesting that the two are interrelated.

A 2020 study on 483 college students found that smartphone addiction is positively associated with academic procrastination and negatively to academic self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy describes students’ attitudes and beliefs about their ability to succeed academically. This study concluded that smartphone addiction is a direct predictor of students’ academic procrastination.

A 2017 study found that adults with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) had higher levels of procrastination. In this study, procrastination was also found to be associated with depression, hostility, and impulsivity.

Internet gaming disorder is characterized by severely reduced control over gaming habits, resulting in negative impacts on daily functioning.

Furthermore, it is believed that procrastination can put your addiction recovery in jeopardy, as recovery consists of small routines and tasks that you should accomplish to help stay sober. In that sense, skipping these important milestones can put you at greater risk of relapsing to your old habits.

Why Are Procrastination and Addiction Closely Linked?

Many factors can explain the strong correlation between procrastination and addiction.

First, some common personality traits and characteristics may expose you to higher risks of both addiction and procrastination. Traits like impulsivity, poor self-control, and low conscientiousness have been shown to be associated with both addiction and procrastination. meaning that if you have these traits, you may be at greater risk of developing addiction, procrastination, or both. This may partly explain why both are highly correlated.

Check out this article on the link between procrastination and personality traits.

Second, procrastination can be seen as a side effect of addiction. If you are an addict, you are so physically and psychologically consumed by your addictive substance or behavior that you neglect all other aspects of your life.

Addiction dysregulates your motivational system and reward pathways in the brain, meaning that you will not experience pleasure in normal activities or any motivation to perform day-to-day tasks, thus explaining why, as an addict, you will avoid most activities that don’t involve your addiction.

Finally, procrastination can expose you to different forms of addiction, particularly to videogames and the internet. This can be explained by the fact that procrastinators avoid the discomfort of doing certain tasks (like studying or working out), by choosing more pleasurable activities, like checking social media.

These pleasurable activities, such as social media or internet use, can become addictive over time.

A 2020 study on 1,004 Chinese college students confirmed this hypothesis and showed that procrastination, as a personality trait, could be a risk factor for mobile phone addiction.

Key Takeaways:

Procrastination is not considered an addiction from a clinical standpoint, however, procrastination shares some components with addiction, particularly impaired control and engaging in behavior despite harmful effects.

On the other hand, physical and psychological dependence is only present in addiction and not in procrastination.

Research have shown strong correlation between procrastination and addiction, this can be explained by the fact that both have the same risk factors like low self-control and impulsivity.

Addiction also contributes to dysregulation of motivational system and brain reward pathways leading to loss of interest in doing day to day activities.

Procrastination may also be a risk factor for developing different types of addictions, especially technology addictions.

By Sam David

Published February 11, 2023