Learning Mediums
Since I found out about the different learnings styles, I’ve been doing more research on this topic. I recently came across David Perell’s article on ‘How To Learn On The Internet’ and found it fascinating!
By improving your process for information consumption via the right medium, you can make online learning more efficient and enjoyable.
His article explored how different mediums helps people with different stages of learning because they stimulate different ways of thinking and feeling as we have to use our different senses to absorb the information.
In the current information era - we mostly consume content via Speech-Based Media (Podcasts and Videos) and Text-Based Media (Books and Articles).
Speech based media is high-energy and emotion. The vocabulary is simple, and gives me a easy-to-understand overview of a subject.
Reading builds expertise. Text-based ideas transmitted are low-energy and emotionless. Ideas are transmitted explicitly, which inspires complex thinking and precise communication.
THE LEARNING FUNNEL
David came up with this funnel to show how online learning works. If you’re looking to learn about something from scratch, it’s good to start with videos and podcasts to have a brief understanding of the topic. However, if you’re looking to dive deeper into the topic, move to reading articles or books. The great thing is that you can choose to switch in between both mediums anytime to further facilitate your learning!
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Reading this article made me examine the way I was absorbing content. With the current attention span of people in this era, it’s clear why most of us are far interested in media based content rather than text based content. It’s easier to understand, shorter and more succinct in nature. The person explaining the content to me has also already summarized, and picked out the most important points about the topic to share.
Perhaps it’s also a factor of my own character. I am by nature a jack of all trades, so it’s also difficult for me to deep dive into subjects - especially on topics I completely have no interest in. When I read long posts, I do find that my attention does up end wandering. I can’t particularly appreciate long form articles or books that have significant amount of scientific theories backing their claim even if I’m interested in that particular topic. Books like ‘Why we Sleep’ and ‘Grit’ are great examples. I’m really into those topics - but I couldn’t quite bring myself to finish those books.
I need to start learning how to appreciate long form because I think I can learn so much from such thoroughly researched content!
This article also further backs my thoughts on starting a Youtube Channel. I’ve been constantly been thinking about audience growth but have found that writing articles and sending out newsletters have had extremely slow traction. So I’ve decided that I should start focusing more of my efforts on youtube to funnel in more people to read my writing instead! Time to jump start my youtube channel once again :)
