How Do You Manage Learning Overload?

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The discussion centers on the overwhelming amount of knowledge available and the challenge of finding motivation to learn. Participants express a shared feeling of being inundated with information, from ebooks to library stacks, and the difficulty in retaining what they read. There's a consensus that focusing on one topic at a time is more effective than trying to absorb everything at once. Some contributors mention the pitfalls of passive learning, such as playing educational videos in the background without genuine engagement. The conversation highlights the importance of active study methods and the value of incremental learning, suggesting that consistent, focused efforts can lead to significant knowledge accumulation over time. Overall, the thread emphasizes the need for motivation and structured approaches to learning in a world filled with distractions.
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So much to learn, so little time! Don't you just feel the same? I mean, just LOOK at all the stuff on this forum!
 
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one thing at a time
 
Yeah, there's so much I want to do. I have gigabytes worth of ebooks that I'd like to read, but just don't have the time. If I read all the history books I have, I could probably become a history professor. I'd like to learn some new languages, but that's really time consuming also.
Actually, I have plenty of time to do these things, just not enough motivation.
 
lendav_rott is right. Don't look too far ahead. Focus on learning what is in front of you. After awhile you'll be surprised how much you've built up.
 
I get the same feeling any time I walk through a library. Stacks upon stacks of knowledge and all I'm ever going to have time to read in my life time is a maybe one measly rack.
 
lambda90 said:
I get the same feeling any time I walk through a library. Stacks upon stacks of knowledge and all I'm ever going to have time to read in my life time is a maybe one measly rack.

And how much of that rack will you retain in your head? Not much.
 
There are so many things to study out there that I don't even know where to start.
The problem with the sea of information on the internet is that it is hard to relax and choose one thing to read. You want to read everyting at the same time and you end up reading nothing

cb
 
I just stare at stuff until it makes sense :smile:
 
Yanick said:
I just stare at stuff until it makes sense :smile:

Trust me, that doesn't work. You aren't actually learning or understand things that way. You just think you know because that is psychologically satisfying for your brain. I say that from experience.I used to leave youtube videos about science playing in the background while I did other stuff, so I would learn not in a conscious way.

cb
 
  • #10
Cosmobrain said:
Trust me, that doesn't work. You aren't actually learning or understand things that way. You just think you know because that is psychologically satisfying for your brain. I say that from experience.I used to leave youtube videos about science playing in the background while I did other stuff, so I would learn not in a conscious way.

cb

I don't know, I'd imagine it depends on what you want to learn. I've used it to figure out topics varying from congestive heart failure symptoms to cyclohexane chair flips to deriving the general solution for second order homogenous differential equations with complex roots.

Each of those particular details of a topic I can teach cold.
 
  • #11
Yanick said:
I don't know, I'd imagine it depends on what you want to learn. I've used it to figure out topics varying from congestive heart failure symptoms to cyclohexane chair flips to deriving the general solution for second order homogenous differential equations with complex roots.

Each of those particular details of a topic I can teach cold.

I still say it is better to study these topics better, rather than just staring at the text. However, gazing at the texts is better than nothing

cb
 
  • #12
Cosmobrain said:
I still say it is better to study these topics better

Well, I certainly can't argue with that logic! :smile:
 
  • #13
Greg Bernhardt said:
lendav_rott is right. Don't look too far ahead. Focus on learning what is in front of you. After awhile you'll be surprised how much you've built up.

Well, I remember when I was cramming away at Grade 1 stuff, now I'm on Grade 11!
Wow, Thanks for the new perspective!
D'ye hear that lambda90? Just borrow 2 books a week and in 1 year, you'll have been through 730 books... think of that!:biggrin:
 
  • #14
Yanick said:
I don't know, I'd imagine it depends on what you want to learn. I've used it to figure out topics varying from congestive heart failure symptoms to cyclohexane chair flips to deriving the general solution for second order homogenous differential equations with complex roots.

Each of those particular details of a topic I can teach cold.

OOH that's frustrating!
I just did a first aid course by Red Cross a few days ago.
Oh wow, that really must crack your head!
 
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