Forem: John Phillips

Microlearning - Youthful Approach

John Phillips — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 14:11:28 +0000

Inspiration

I was browsing through twitter one day and came across a tweet by Cameron Moll. The tweet read...

Cameron Moll

@cameronmoll

I have 5 sons (3 college age!) and only 1 who really shows any interest in our field. 100% OK with this. But in thinking about why we're not seeing more youth enter our field, a thread.

22:30 PM - 23 Aug 2021

The part that particularly caught my attention;

"Why we're not seeing more youth enter our field".

So, based on this tweet, I would like to discuss about the society we live in, how we consume information and the resources that surround us.

This will likely be a multipart series on modern approaches to learning, so stay tuned.

Youthful Frustrations

Today, we are extremely lucky to have access to the vast library of content, we're able to access content anytime, anywhere, however; as stated in my previous post...

Learning with Self Help

Great things in life come with a 'sacrifice' so to speak, for us? That's patience. We exchange something so crucial; for on demand, accessible information.

Let's take a quick pause and go over some of the pro's and con's to this exchange.

Spoiler Alert, The Pro's and Con's are identical.

Pro's

Information on Demand.
Fast, Lighting fast. (Rural areas too, check out Starlink).
Millions of Resources. (Impossible consumption for one lifetime).
Social Media, Connecting us to thousands of intelligent people across the world. (Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Rick Sanchez...).

Con's

Information on Demand.
Lighting Fast, Too fast.
Millions of Resources.
Intelligent people across the world...?

Okay, weird? That's a bit ambiguous of me, let me explain my thought process.

The Sacrifice

I will attempt to do this in short paragraphs, it'll take a more direct approach; saving you some time.

NOTE: If you would like to discuss these points further, I'm an open-minded person and would love the conversation.

IMPORTANT: The Pro's will not be discussed, this topic is to embrace the con's.

With that out of the way, let's continue...

Info On Demand.

Having access to information at any point has shown us that we can put down a book, stop reading a post, or abandon that 1 hour video without any consequences. We can bookmark pages, save posts, pause videos and even share content for others to do the same.

Lighting Fast

We are able to access content absurdly fast, if a page takes several seconds to load, we abandon it and find a new source. Our impatience aggressively grows, hunting for the quickest load times.

Content creators are reducing their length times to suit the new generation... More on that Later.

Millions of Resources

We have an overwhelming amount of resources, from purchased to free. If you're a Web Developer, check out your frameworks. Game Developer? Game engines with thousands of different enriching features to learn. Our library of resources range from useless to the most powerful, awe-inspiring advice you'll ever read.

Intelligent People

Social media promotes so many wonderful, amazing, intelligent people across the world. Outstanding success stories, the minority with phenomenal 'luck', majority with jaw-dropping talents. We idolize, are inspired by these people... we're overwhelmed by the shadows they cast, unable to follow in their foots steps, we feel disappointed, defeated... desperate.

I would love to discuss this further; but I don't wish for this post to undermine the works of others.

Honestly...
The positives definitely outweigh the negatives, that does NOT mean we should ignore them, instead, learn to embrace our impatience and self-loathing. Harnessing our patience, rather, lack thereof can seriously contribute towards our learning, as well as our understanding of modern society... speaking of, that leads me to my next point.

Modern Society.

This could easily receive its own blog, so I don't intend on diving too deep into this topic.

Let's start by talking about modern standards. Following up, how we can take advantage of this 'new' way of sharing content.

So, pointing fingers... TikTok, an app I personally dislike but can't knock the smart design choice behind the application. If you've been living under a rock, fossilizing away, let me give you a quick description.

TikTok is a video sharing, social networking platform that is used to create short videos from dancing to education. These videos can have a duration of 15 seconds to 3 minutes.
Generally these videos last around 60 seconds.

This design approach is clearly focused on the younger generation. Providing micro-entertainment with next to no effort. You can get a channel up and running and begin posting content within minutes. The ability to procrastinate within this application is beyond wild.

Another example, pulling away from procrastination, a YouTube content creator, (developer). They provide guides, tips and tutorials in a similar fashion, I'm referring to Fireship. If you haven't seen their content, I highly recommend it - Especially if you lack patience like myself. Fireship have taken their steps to provide content for the younger generation, which, I personally can say, it's very effective.

Both TikTok and Fireship provide short bursts of 'distraction'. They both use the new modern approach to entertainment and consuming information, both very effective and have well structured content and design that target younger audiences. We eat this content up because it requires no effort.

In the future I will be discussing the filtering process of these "micro-distractions" and how to effectively gain from them.

No Effort

Majority of people, especially now, when time is precious, will want to utilize the 'no effort' train. Without even noticing, you have probably, at some point taken advantage of this approach to living.

This isn't anything to be ashamed about, heck, It's encouraged, however; acknowledgement of when you are using this approach is always a good step towards effective learning. The next time you find yourself caught in a micro-distraction, save it for the future. (provided useful).

If you find yourself struggling to get motivated, not having enough time or simply feeling lazy, give that 'micro-distraction' some attention.

Final Message

This will be one section of several chapters towards a youthful approach to learning. In the future I will be discussing the following processes.

Finding
Filtering
Extracting

These will follow through with the same concepts about modern approaches.

Learning with Self-Help

John Phillips — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 12:36:00 +0000

Let's start with introductions.
Hi, I'm John Phillips.
I'm an aspiring web developer.

Like everyone else, I have many flaws, I embrace, resent and blame them. I'm not ashamed to discuss my "failures", or my "flaws", consequently the creation of this post.

So, let's get started...

My thoughts on "self-help".

I've always HATED self-help advice, still do actually.

Why?

Harmful Advice. ✅
Empty Promises. ✅
Egotistical Writers. ✅

Now, this is a stern belief, I know, so why have I found my success in learning and believe it's an incredible approach to learning?

Failures

I've failed at too many things in life, of course due to my
own self-loathing. I struggle to continue working on topics I believed I wanted to understand.

I had attempted web development several times over the course of a decade, and I'll say again, due to my OWN self-loathing, decided to stop trying.

The Blame

A few years had passed, blaming my 'compulsive nature' to abandon everything I work on, I found it easy to pick up and ditch projects...

Of course, this blame game was an issue, it was an excuse that many of us make, taking pity on our-self's, temporarily making us feel good.

The Resentment

I resented my 'compulsive nature' and refused to learn anything else, believing it just wasn't my 'destiny' to be educated, successful or even happy.

This was starting to become a problem.

Embracing My Flaws

On the 12th of August, 2020. I decided to stop self-loathing and actually solve this "problem" because that's all it was, a problem that required solving.

I wanted to become a developer, however; I knew that this wasn't going to come to fruition unless I fixed this problem I have.

I delved into books, guides, blogs, videos you name it, attempting to solve this 'problem' and after a few months, I made progress.

The Problem

This "advice" had given me a quick fix, these self-help guru's would talk about their stories of success, never actually explaining the pain, sacrifice and stress they took to get to their goals; hell, perhaps they fluked their success, but, this isn't going to happen, not to me, you or perhaps anyone else reading this.

Following and believing in this advice was ruining my progress, my self-worth and my confidence. Blindly following these Guru's was just irresponsible and stupid, to be blunt.

The Fix

What pain do you want in your life?

This was a quote from a book published by Mark Manson.

Mark is like the Ghost of Christmas. Brutally telling you how it is and not what you'd like it to be.

This particular quote caught my attention, and I believe this is how I've failed and if you feel the same way, perhaps you are too.

Mark explains that in life, everything has a sacrifice. Simply put; A house needs repairs, A job comes with stress and a relationship requires work.

Undoubtedly, you're happy to go through these 'pains' and that's exactly why you're untroubled by the thought of them; likewise with learning.

I believe this is a great philosophy to follow. So far, It hasn't failed me, I am happy to go through the pain and struggles of being a developer and that's exactly why I'm still here; rather it is the pain I enjoy that has allowed me to continue my fight.

Wrapping Up My Points

Ok... My points? This perhaps dragged on for far too long; however, I want to show you that what you're going through is common, especially for beginners, I still struggle even now, a year later.

Following blindly to one guru is a waste of your time and effort, ensure you filter the useful quotes and information that tailors to you.

Self-help Guru's that try and give you a boost of encouragement are mostly doing what we call in retail 'customer satisfaction'.
Don't fall into the same pitfalls I did and receive a burst of motivation.

Solving your own personal issues is crucial to learning, if you find yourself continuing to blame a particular 'feature' of your character, then find a solution for it.

Easier said that done, for sure, I still struggle to this day, but after a year of struggles, my problem has become more of an asset and hence, embracing it.

NOTE: Re-reading this, I planned on leaving it unpublished; however, I will post it regardless of how I feel in hopes that it motivates someone to do something of similar nature.

P.S This is my first blog, It's probably flawed, messy and not well structured. But, It's an attempt and something I aim to get better at.

Thanks for reading. Best of luck learning.