Yeah, I do think there is a big difference between not closely tracking what you owe on SLs and just not paying them. I feel sick to my stomach every time I look at our loan balances, so I often take long breaks. It's so just frustrating to barely see the needle move despite paying several hundred dollars a month toward mine, and H's are only collecting interest right now while he finishes up his PhD so they scare me too.
However, I have always paid on my SLs (I deferred once for 3 or 6 months when my XH got laid off, and I regret it very much since it ended up meaning more interest paid) and once H is actually done and in a normal job, we'll pay his each month too. Mine are on auto pay so I don't need to look at the depressing balance to meet my obligation. I just pay it.