New Ways to Learn
If you wanted to learn something new, your first thought would be to find someone to teach you; a teacher, a specialist in the field, a skilled individual. This traditional method of learning has carried you from grade school to high school, and perhaps college – but let’s move into the twenty-first century.
Today, we have immediate, unlimited access to any topic we want to learn about, and we don’t have to enroll in school. Plenty of free courses can be found online, and let’s not forget about YouTube University, as we call it. Just search for the topic of your choice, then sit back with a cup of tea and watch/listen while a skilled individual lectures you on the subject. For deeper learning, all you need to do is take notes while listening. Studies prove that the act of writing, putting pen/pencil to paper, enhances your learning experience and increases your chances of retaining the information. No classroom. No disruptive classmates. Just you, sipping your tea while soaking in the new information.
Technology Resistant?
So, you refuse to jump on the technology bandwagon, huh? You’re a woman/man of a certain age, and nobody’s gonna make you learn anything you don’t want to learn. Well, I hate to drag you out of denial, but I must. You learn new technology in almost every area of life today, when you sign in at the doctors office, click your tv remote, scroll to your favorite streaming channel, or check out at the grocery store, even if just swiping a card and typing in a password. And unless you live in a hut on the edge of nowhere, you certainly use technology to connect with loved ones. I know. You learn just enough about your smart phone to make and answer calls, maybe even send a text or two, but you still had to learn to dance with that technology…which is not so new anymore.
Okay. I’m sure I belabored that point. My aim is actually to encourage you to embrace technology because its not going anywhere, nor can it be avoided. Everywhere you go, its wiry arms are flailing away like a gas station jumbo doll, screaming “look at me. I’m too big to miss.” Go ahead and practice the technology dance one step at a time. You already have a partner that makes it easy, your smart phone. Challenge yourself to learn one new feature on your phone. The more you get comfortable navigating the technology learning curve, the more prepared you’ll be for the future, which is as soon as tomorrow.
Oops! I Forgot to Think
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rushing through the zeitgeist like a raging river, taking our brains along for the ride and leaving us mere humans with mental atrophy.
You know what I mean! Five minutes of trying to figure out what to write, we get mentally tired and turn to one of the chatbots for a boost. A boost is one thing, but relying on AI to actually write for you can certainly make you forget how to think, believe in your own ideas, formulate those ideas, and trust the results. Be honest: do you find yourself second-guessing everything you write – more than you used to? Was there a time, before AI hit the scene, that you were confident about your writing? Even if you lacked confidence in your writing ability, I’ll guess that it was not hard to accept the results and submit the writing. What about today? Now, it’s hard to even be okay with what we put on paper, because it’s so easy to judge it against how a chatbot would have written it. Let’s get back to thinking deliberately, choosing to exercise our brain, and choosing to believe in our abilities. Let’s exercise our brain muscles again. The sky will not fall. Trust me.
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