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Ask HN: Why is learning so painful?

• coldtea 10y ago
  >Why is that? Because reality? Might as well ask why it's hard to just go out an dead lift a 500lbs weight. Obviously because there are physiological limits to what we can do with our brains and bodies, and unless there's some great enabling technology that addresses them specifically, they'll remain. That said, learning is not hard in general. Some things are very easy to learn (e.g. to bike, to tell the time, to cook spaghetti). Others are hard, because the subjects are bigger or vast and the knowledge more intricate (e.g. Math, Medicine). >And how can we make it easier to learn? What helps? Studying with focus, practice, persistence, actually liking the subject, starting our study of it from a young age, etc. Things that have been shown to also help are being in good shape (exercise+nutrition also help our brain function better), immersive learning (e.g. when learning a new language, don't just read books and do tests, speak it with native speakers, watch movies in the language, etc), and some other stuff and "spaced repetition" (google it). No magic bullets.
• kafkaesq 10y ago
  Why is that? Because it's good for you. The same way walking up stairs or not giving into every single craving for sweets/alcohol/carbs/cheese/whatever can seem "painful" if you're out of shape (or in the latter case, metabolically dependent). Until you get into shape, that is, and walking up the stairs doesn't hurt anymore. And you realize that all this time (when you were a lazy bum), it wasn't walking up the stairs, but not walking up the stairs (and not saying "no" to whatever kind of crap you thought your stomach was demanding) which was "hurting" you. You just didn't feel it until you shifted modes. And how can we make it easier to learn? What helps? Making a system out of it. Realizing that a long journey always begins with a few modest steps (and that this isn't just a trite slogan). That for a long time, you're going to feel confused and inert and like a wannabe and an imposter before you get much benefit out of it. But you realize that those aren't signs that you're "failing", those are signs that you're actually getting somewhere. So you're going to push yourself through it all anyway. Because it's good for you.
• kowdermeister 10y ago
  There are many types of learning and it boils down to motivation. If you are supposed to learn something because you boss told you but you resist because simply you disagree, then it'll be really hard to learn that thing. On the other hand, if you have a goal that for example you want to be a generative artist then you'll have a good time learning about math and various algorithms. Learning is achieved via repetition and practice, so don't stop at watching YouTube videos. Put those thing to practice. Rinse a repeat. If you lack motivation, you could also try various focus boosting drugs, but don't ask me, I haven't tried any.
• kixpanganiban 10y ago
  > Why is that? It's because of the mindset. When you consider learning as a chore, it really does become painful and tedious. However, if you consider learning as a hobby, it becomes much easier and much more natural. I had this job a few years ago where I was required to learn a certain programming language whose syntax and semantics I really disliked. It took me months to fix a problem that I now deem trivial, and this was because I felt that what I was doing was a chore. A few weeks ago, I decided to learn a new language, and since I did it after work right before going to bed as a hobby, the learning part came naturally and I felt like I was just having fun. > And how can we make it easier to learn? That said, it certainly helps if you incentivize your learning process. Answer these questions: why do you want to learn what you're trying to learn, and what will you get out of it? If the answers make you happy and excited, then I think you're already halfway there. Learning is much like going to the gym and working out: you have to tear those muscles up (a really painful process!) so they can be rebuilt much bigger. As the old saying goes: "no pain, no gain". It takes the right mindset and the right goals to truly make learning easier and more rewarding. > What helps? Peer learning! Try to find someone to learn whatever you're trying to learn with. As a programmer, I can attest to just how much peer learning works. I usually hang out at the Slack of whatever tool or language I'm trying to learn and join meetups. It really helps you learn faster when you have someone to bounce your ideas on.
• dalke 10y ago
  First, a couple objections to your phrasing. I dislike the term 'reach their full potential'. That would require precognition. Perhaps you do study topic X, but your full potential would have been better reached by going for a walk, where you ended up meeting a group of like-minded people who support and challenge each other to do better. (For that matter, there are many worthy paths in life. You can't take all of them, so will never reach your 'full potential'. Perhaps I could have been a great figure skater, had I tried, so I'll now never reach my full potential.) I also dislike the term 'grit', because it has so many meanings. It's often interpreted needing an internal quality of perseverance and resilience. But what's also important is external support. This could include teachers or trainers, but also a community which doesn't resort to "LOL, N00B - RTFM!" when someone comes with a beginner question. Most people don't like feeling ignorant. Even fewer like it when others highlight that ignorance. As a personal example, years back I went to buy a new iPod and brought in my old one for a trade-in. The Apple store staff pointed out it was an old model "is it 3rd generation"? I had no clue, and didn't like the feeling like I was supposed to know this information. Now, as to your topic, there's an entire field of learning science. For example, Greg Wilson, at Software Carpentry, recommends (http://software-carpentry.org/blog/2016/09/small-teaching.html http://software-carpentry.org/blog/2016/09/small-teaching.ht... ): > Elizabeth Green’s Building a Better Teacher changed how I think about teaching, and sparked some good discussion in our community. Therese Huston’s Teaching What You Don’t Know had a similar impact a few years earlier, and now there is James Lang’s Small Teaching. As its title suggests, Lang’s book focuses on little things that teachers can do right now to improve their teaching, rather than on big, systemic changes that might have larger impact, but which require larger effort (and probably buy-in from other people). To be included, a practice had to: have some foundation in the learning sciences, have been shown to have impact in real-world situation, and have been used or observed by the author. ... Frequent low-stakes quizzes to prompt recall, interleaving different material, having students write a one-minute thesis or draw a concept map, making the assessment criteria clear, setting aside time for self-explanation and peer explanation—none of these should be new to anyone who has been through our instructor training course Perhaps reading the literature from that field would help more than random HN commenters? As the Software Carpentry instructor training page points out at http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/ http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/ : > "Over the last hundred years, researchers have discovered an enormous amount about how people learn and how best to teach them. Unfortunately, much of that knowledge has not yet been translated into common classroom practice, while many myths about education have proven remarkably persistent." It's likely that people here may repeat those same myths. This also gives you the chance to ask yourself if you want to spend the time and energy to learn that topic enough to really be able to answer your own curiosity. And if not, perhaps that same answer can be applied to others?