A+ for ingenuity!

I love ctrl+tab especially when I'm researching (stalking) K-dramas & K-music at work.

Finding balance between study and dramas was (and still is) work-in-progress for me. It is absolutely necessary, so FIGHTING!

As to not having a "real dream", join the club! The pressures of deciding on a career at such a young age are mind-numbing. However, what I've learned with time (and age?) is that you don't have to set out your future life plans at the age of 18. You might study Law and end up happily working as a restaurant manager. You might study medicine and become a successful stay-at-home mom. You never know. Just study what you think you're cut out for and keep working on extra-curricular activities you enjoy.

A Poem A Day reflected a little bit on this issue, because Bo Young chose Physical Therapy over Literature for the very valid reason that she wanted a profession that pays well. She was sad that she abandoned writing poetry (me too). But she brought poetry to hundred of patients and colleagues at the hospital. AND she was a competent physical therapist.

I'm rambling, but the point is that we never know what life has in store for us, so study hard while you can. (If I had my way Bo Young would go to a summer writing camps and read poetry at her local cafe after work, but I digress).

Good luck finding your “dream.” Kdramas are good at introducing ideas, and it is our job to pursue what sparks our interests. You sound like a pro getting in that drama watching. I catch my kids doing the same thing but you’ve given me more “tricks” to be on the lookout for! 🤣

It’s a good thing I didn’t know about dramas back when I was in school, otherwise I never would have got anything done 😂 Good luck on finding something to do that you’ll enjoy - in my experience, even if you do find an absolute dream job, there will still be many days when it’s stressful or boring or just plain hard. Those who have achieved a dream don’t necessarily have it better than those who were never driven by a passion. Dramas are the perfect antidote at those times when the real world is all too real, and sometimes they can even inspire you to look at your ordinary life with new eyes and find much more to love about it.

Aw we seem very much alike! I'm also a student with the 24/7 job of watching kdramas (not guilty one bit), and I feel like I'm living the life of a convict by constantly hiding what I'm watching at the moment with the same ctrl+tab trick! I'm glad your grades are doing well though, because dramas can be SO distracting.

Great story, and I can really relate to your Pandora's box analogy. Thanks for sharing.

When I was in school, I actually needed the TV on to study. I remember watching a MASH marathon while studying for organic chemistry. My brain is weird. I don't know if I could have done kdramas, though, since I need to read subtitles.

I don't know if you really need a 'dream.' Especially one inspired by dramas. 😂 Just try to find something you enjoy doing. Maybe it's writing -- good post!

Ahh I do relate! I was much like you back in school. I still am, in all fairness. Alt-tab is a lifesaver indeed!

Many people don't have just "one" dream they want to achieve, especially for their career. Kdramas can be an inspiration, but be sure to do research and try to do something that at least sparks your interest outside of Kdrama portrayal!

While Kdrama portrayal of lawyers can be glamorous, you could find yourself thinking differently after graduating law school (it's tough!) and ending up working 70+ hour workweeks at only slightly more than minimum wage, while your less studious peers may be living much more comfortably working in different fields. Of course, I might be slightly biased in this regard due to my own career path.

Nevertheless, it's fine to figure out what you really want to do gradually, but it's also fine to just settle for something comfortable along the road.

beautifully written... I can imagine you doing all the tricks you did for kdramas.
hope you find your dream job soon and excel in it just as you are doing in kdrama watching.

and i am same ignoring exams for tv just the different things... at one time Cricket was my life. There was one Test match between India and Australia while i had my 10th board exam of mathematics the very next day, and i still remember still on stairs next to the tv room to listen the commentary, i was scolded by my dad. then i went on terrace and manage to watch the scoreline (at the bottom of tv screen) through a railing cover on the floor.... i watched it till the match going on for the day.
and as result i did end up getting bad marks in that exam (though i passed) and that percentage remained one of most worst performance of my student life and still is.

Am laughing all the way to the finish, what a fun read! Really applaud you on keeping your good grades, coz back when I was binge-watching, my study seriously suffered T_T With the smart that you have, I'm sure you'll ace whichever dream job you'll choose in the future, hwaiting!

Lovely article @babybeast! Are you a Singaporean? What you’ve written is so relatable.

Nice history😂i can partially relate. You had me at the "shoving my phone under the cupboard"(i hid my in the textbook by flipping the page really fast)😅
I was introduced to kdramas at the age of 14 in my last year of middle school(Italian School). And my first drama was "Empress ki". I didn't have a phone at that time so i use to watch at my cousin's house during weekends. And the computer was in the living room so i couldn't watch but that's how i found Dramabeans(i only read after studying and doing homeworks and house chores). But when i had my first smartphone i did a really intense kdrama marathon and my grades droped to average that is in high school(but now they are back to being high😊). Now I'm in my fourth year of high school and i've really learnt to controll my desire for k drama. Now i can actually go even a year without k drama. As for future dreams, I'm not influenced by kdrama becasue i dont treat it as reality(I can only daydream). So i hope you'll live in reality too☺

Oh man, I had a few dream jobs too when I was younger. First, I wanted to be an archeologist because I watched the Mummy so join the club of people who get their dreams from TV. :D

Then I went camping during high school and realized I didn't actually like being outdoors so there went that dream. Then I thought I could be a writer since I like books or an historian because my history teacher was awesome ( the Indiana Jones movies also really helped there).

When I reached university, I wrote one essay and hated it so that killed those two on the spot. To be fair, it was about french medieval poetry. Thank god for APAD and creating a tiny interest in poetry because before that, zzzzz (snoring sounds). I only discovered my current profession (software developer) because I had to do science electives and I chose a computer science class.

All of this to say, try everything. And I mean everything. Take a pottery class or a language class. Try chemistry and physics. You won't know what you like until you try it.

And don't stress too much about finding "THE dream". Our generation will have 5 to 6 careers in our lifespan so you can (and probably will) do a bunch of things.

Don't worry, not everyone figures out their dream in school! I know i didn't and now I realise that as long you're doing something that you like/doesnt stress you/allows you to achieve your goals and challenges you, that's enough. At least it works for me 😆
Just enjoy your school life and try to learn things that interest you, not other people. I used to read my novels by hiding them in my textbook so anyone looking would think i'm studying, not reading for fun!

I am convinced @ babybeast that we must have telepathy because I do the exact same things!

I too have mastered shot-cuts, the art of split screen viewing and ultra-quick tab changes. I'm practically a ninja!
DB was blocked in my school too but VPN saved me and if teachers asked me why I was always on my laptop, staring intently, I'd tell them I was researching on an essay and open the exact same essay every single time. Using free school time to watch dramas accelerated my watching habits!

The moment I started K-dramas can be compared to the opening of Pandora’s Box (not that I particularly regret it… yet). Watching K-dramas did not only result in one additional distraction, but through K-dramas I found K-pop, and K-variety shows, which meant like another gazillion forms of distraction.

👏🙌 The truth! I fell down the rabbit hole too and also ended up reading Korean manhwas and webtoons. *Shakes head*.
The only difference is that my grades did drop down during my mocks but I was soon on track for my actual exams after late night studying (which included watching Running Man +2N1D+ TROS clips on Youtube). Heh 😂

Heyyo, y'all sneaky people! It's so great to just scroll through the comment threads- I relate to all comments about dreams, ctrl+tab, and of course, k-drama addiction :D never mind that I got an exam tomorrow :)

oh, also RIP my headphones in the first year but life and especially studies without the rocking k-drama osts (besides k-pop) is so not right :D

hi! I am honestly so happy to be reading your article,because I never had someone to relate to so hard!!My o's are coming up next year and as you can imagine,being a kdrama fan and this major exam are definitely recipes for disaster.I am a relatively new kdrama fan,just entering last year.I have to say that I definitely did improve on controlling myself and holding back dramas during the school year this year,but its a pain to completely cut myself off,which I have been doing.Do you have any tips on balance?ik ik after reading ur article I shouldn't even be asking u about this hehe but since you have been through o's,i definitely would love some tips and tricks from a sunbaenim hehe.Anyways,just wanted to let you know that I love this entire theme on Dramabeans and the articles coming with it so far!!KEEP IT UP :)

It's nice to see how the dramas inspire your imaginings of what you'll do some day!