To be honest I see this new trend of squishing down longform information (such as books, courses etc) into short tidbits with the promise of «infusing you with information» a detriment to learning. There is a huge difference between being told something by e.g reading a sentence summarizing a point, in comparison to reading the longer form. This is because a big part of what is learning, or grokking rather, is that you ponder and think about the information you just received in context with something else. You need to simulate and build a mental model using the information as a jumping off point. Thats where longer form of content such as a «slow» book is beneficial. It might be slow and repeating itself, but in doing so it gives you the chance to actually understand what is being presented to you. These short summaries are giving you non of that, unless you actually stop and ponder every single sentence, and at that point you might as well be consuming the longer form since it will help you in that aspect.
I honestly believe we’re currently being too focused on productivity hacks, so we’re not seeing the forest for the trees. You reading and remembering a line from a book is not the same as you understanding that line, and in this example where they state they are giving you a 60 minute lesson in 5 minutes - how much understanding are you actually left with at the end?
> see this new trend of squishing down longform information (such as books, courses etc) into short tidbits with the promise of «infusing you with information»
I see a general decline of attention spans around me and I wouldn't be surprised if more learning content takes this route.
There is also something to be said about the fact the I often remember things I saw in edu TikTok more than things I read in a book because it's presented in a more engaging and visual manner. So, I assume it actually helps some people learn easier and lowers the "activation energy" threshold to get started.
Take what I'll write next with a spoonful of salt: I think the main culprit for the decline of attention spans is our poor internet browsing hygiene.
When you see social media platforms competing for our attention using clickbait titles, likes and retweets to give us the social component satisfaction that someone out there found what we had to share worth reading, etc. we're reaching a point where if content cannot, at the very least, match the engagement rate then it's not worth consuming.
It's a judgement call on the quality of information but based on how it's presented and not based on the value of the information itself. That's how we end up using the allure of gamification to engage people doing things that should be engaging in their own. Examples are having a tacked on achievement system that gives you a trophy in a video game, or even in the Fireship learning platform.
It already has. I'm a pre-2k zoomer and I remember how youtube used to be called "untrustworthy" as a source of information. Heck, even Wikipedia. And now everyone and their grandmother swears by youtube as a decent information source while refusing to understand WHY people upload videos on the platform.
Middle-school (and higher) students can't learn exclusively from books any longer. They need interactive engagement with a person (read: celebrity) on the internet. Children are reading less overall, and any parent that tries otherwise has to first push against the "personal portable tech is integral" wall (which was absent only a decade and half ago).
I think it’s important to recognize that there are multiple learning styles and not everyone goes through the same steps or finds value in the same places.
I think this is highly project and phase dependent as well, and sometimes the most valuable resource is a resource that can explain the essence of a thing in minutes thereby allowing you to make a decision about whether or not spending more time on the subject is warranted.
That's one of the reasons why learning by reading is so powerful: Reading is an active involvement, it's an interaction.
Videos CAN deliver that, but it's a lot harder, because a video is not something I conciously need to interact with; I press play and it plays, whether my mind wanders to something else or no.
Videos can deliver repetition, but the format in which social media present them (with the next clickbait always only a small flick of the cursor way) doesn't exactly help.
IMHO, Videos can excel at explaining topics with laser focus on a small, complex topic, that is then explained in detail with multiple examples. When trying to teach broad topics reading wins out most of the time.
I generally agree with this comment. I think the things I'd highlight are:
1) Retention is not always needed. If my primary goal is to gain cursory knowledge of the top 5 frontend frameworks so I can decide which one I'll sink the necessary time into so I can retain/understand it, the short format can be fine (and highly desirable). I'll follow it up with a proper deep dive.
2) Understanding of core subjects may have already been established by decades of experience, and the video is just communicating what is possible, or the delta between Tech A and Tech B.
I think it boils down to: each format has a time and a place. I do think that trying to learn the depths of a completely new subject by watching 5 minute hyper-distilled overviews is not going to go well.
But that's not why I find these videos useful, personally.
Thank you for this comment. While I see opdahl's point and agree that these summaries do not provide the same level of understanding as working through an in-depth book, I see them as the perfect fit for me.
I am essentially paid to know a wide variety of possibilities to solve a problem and then narrow down on some of them.
One of the most helpful things for me is quick and concise introductions to a topic that give me some outlines and enough terms to google to rapid-fire through hundreds of criterias on why something could or could not be a good fit for the problem at hand.
The worst slowdowns in this process are topics for which only lengthy books/docs are available. Don't get me wrong, I need those to learn more about the topic later but they often make it hard to get an easy overview.
Well, I actually like the video format not for really learning but to discover new things.
For example, as a developer, I loathe coding tutorials in video and I prefer reading books / documentation on the topic.
But for everything that I’m just curious about (which is, science in general), the video format is really nice because I’m not going to invest my time in reading physics books. So instead of watching TV shows, I watch science videos on YouTube.
I know it’s pure entertainment but if I’m honest, I must say learned a lot of useful things that I can use on a daily basis.
Like, understanding the basics of thermodynamics is in fact really useful to heat your home or to correctly cook things. I know I’ll never be an expert in any domain with YouTube videos but they give me more than just watching dumb things.
Same could be said about books when they were invented. Books allow you to read whatever you need at any time instead of memorizing the information. You don’t get to store as much information if you read books. Remembering things will be a thing of the past. Those who memorize things are able to slowly over time form a better understanding. And so on …
I'm not sure if I agree. I think there is a fundamental difference in having an understanding (mental model) of a topic, and remembering a piece of information. The information is of course useful when building these mental models and when being used in context of a mental model. I do agree with you though that there is less need to recall specific information, but you still need to know _when_ you should look for some information that you don't currently have.
Short attention spans seems problematic, but we live in an era where shrinking the things we don't know we know is better than better memorizing the things we know. Search has made this possible and I predict this trend will increase with AI like ChatGPT.
I honestly believe we’re currently being too focused on productivity hacks, so we’re not seeing the forest for the trees. You reading and remembering a line from a book is not the same as you understanding that line, and in this example where they state they are giving you a 60 minute lesson in 5 minutes - how much understanding are you actually left with at the end?