Reading, Audio Or Video: Learning Doesn’t Work If You Make It Passive

I have a hunch that active reading is still the best way to learn.

 

The basic process is:

1. Start reading.

2. Pause regularly.

3. Write notes about the content.

4. Confirm that you understand what was said.

5. Resume reading.

6. When finished, review all notes on the material

7. Slash unimportant information.

8. Write 1-2 general takeaways.

9. Save the important notes in your mini-library.

 

Reading is much denser than audio content (6-minute blog post vs. 60-minute podcast) and less fluffed-up than video, where video effects drive views but distract from meaty information.

 

The majority of ‘information content’ is still written. As simple examples, there is a Wikipedia page on Laos Rice Production volumes, and another listing every single Manufacturing Process (joining, moulding, magnetic pulse forming, biomachining…) but you will not find similarly structured all-in-1 video content.

 

Try this yourself, search for any type of information (eg. “Number of houses in Alabama”) on the text-based Internet (Searched with Google) and the video-based Internet. (Searched on Youtube, Google’s video platform)

 

Text Content Search (Information for all states found immediately)

 

YouTube (Information not present… oh is that blood?)

 

Information, if it is of any value, is usually written first.

1. Scientific discoveries are published in journals, not podcasts.

2. Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a Bitcoin white paper, not a Bitcoin screenplay.

3. Companies like Google write research papers for their innovators and film videos for their consumers.

 

Whether You Choose Reading, Audio Or Video… Don’t Make It Passive

 

I think my greatest time-wasting sin has been not scrutinizing the content I consume harshly enough. I’ve wasted months of my life passively consuming pseudo-educational slow-drip content in an entertaining format, rather than actively analyzing a few meaty information-rich articles, books, podcasts, or videos, and then creating a plan and doing something with the information.

 

Do you quickly jump from one piece of content to the next without reflecting, even for a few seconds? Do you listen once, rarely take notes, and never make plans based on the information? If so, you’re probably there for some pseudo-learning entertainment.

 

The promise of passive content absorption is tempting in the same way ‘multi-tasking’ is tempting, but multi-tasking leads to a 80% loss of productivity and I have a hunch multi-focusing leads to a similar drop in retention.

 

Rather than trying to maximize inputs (I am guilty…) my experience is that learning is more useful when you pause to think about the information and then think about what you can do with it, creating more than you consume.

 

Listen to podcasts at 3x speed if you like (your brain can handle it) but pause, write notes and confirm understanding often.