How to Learn
Advances in technology are having a profound impact on our attitude to work. As devices and availability of information become more rapid, we expect results ever faster and our patience is declining rapidly. Never before has such a wealth of information been so immediately and comprehensively available to such a proportion of the population. In theory, we should all be geniuses (genii?). Pre-Google, one would have to search actual libraries for textbooks and journals, and scour pages and pages of paper to find the relevant information. This must have been such a hassle!
However, there's one issue. Our brains are still clocking over at pre-internet speeds, and I firmly believe that we are strangely disadvantaged by the immediate availability of so much information. It's the old Huxley vs Orwell dichotomy - ironically Huxley's fear of overwhelming amounts of irrelevant information drowning out the truth is much closer to reality than Orwell's fear of asphyxiating censorship.
I feel very strongly that one must spend time processing information to learn effectively. Yes there are many tips and tricks that people come up with to try and optimise efficiency in learning, and provide short-cuts to revision that can save precious time in the run up to exams.
- neurons still take as long to form connections as they did a hundred years ago
- we learn better through episodic processing because we generate many more hooks with which to retrieve the information later
Force work
- put yourself in a situation where you have to get something done
- go sit in a cafe with a laptop that only has three or four hours of battery life
0 comments:
Post a Comment