What is the best way to learn and retain information?

[Meat Target]

I'm asking because when I want to learn more about a lolcow or some kind of happening in the news, I find it easier to listen to a youtuber's breakdown of it rather than read an article or the OP of their KF thread.

On the other hand, when I want some kind of technical or informational tutorial for myself, I tend to either read or seek hands-on experience. Videos are often too much for my attention span in this regard, and IMHO the relevant content creators aren't always good at mentioning potential obstacles, such as budget, a novice's lack of knowledge, or using too much jargon.

How do you learn?

 

[Grub]

Reading and doing. If it's something complex and involved I'll use a video.

 

[draggs]

Reading engages your brain more than watching or listening, unless it is something physical you're trying to learn. Like mechanical shit. Then watching and doing is best

 

[Judex Meus]

Repetition. Unless you're one of those people with photographic memory, doing something over and over is usually the best way (at least in my experience). Watch, then do, and keep doing it over and over even if it's like once a day or something.

 

[The Luigi Player]

1. Repetition (Judex)
2. Recommendations/Assistance from others (Learning)
3. Ruleset and Schedules

 

[WelfareNiggerQueen]

Watching, reading, doing, take notes for when I forget.

 

[CowPox]

To develop a genuine interest in it, not just approach the subject matter in a rush to memorize factoids and enough minutia to appear to have a grasp of it.

 

[Anasa Tristis]

I'm a big handwritten note taker. Not just for reference or accuracy. Information gets embedded in your brain better when you write the words out with your own hand. Using highlighters, the switch to keyboards and the dropping of cursive writing in schools is just nuts IMO. Learning is a full body experience. Thinking and physically moving in tandem changes consciousness.

 

[Whatevermancer]

I learn by doing. Notes help a lot, but I don't really get an intuitive understanding until I try it out on practice.

 

[iguanahatshroom]

To develop a genuine interest in it, not just approach the subject matter in a rush to memorize factoids and enough minutia to appear to have a grasp of it.

This. Everyone saying repetition is also right. Look up Ebbinghaus curve. Use both approaches and you'll be fine.

 

[doodoocaca]

Argue about it

 

[gorgoroth7134]

Combination technique. You retain more (like some bizarrely high percentage, I wanna say over 90?) of what you hear, read, say, and then practice. One-method learning is only for autists.

 

[George Lucas]

If you kill yourself, you’ll go to hell and the devil will tell you all that there is to know about the universe.

Then you get to go to anime heaven after.

 

[twinkdeth]

From experience, Repetition. I find it easy to retain information through multiple study sessions of the same topic, or even things like practice exams for example where you can fuck it up until you remember it, after getting some IT Certifications, it's the only thing that seems to work consistently for me. PS: I suppose this scenario might not apply to your interests, although it would work, reading the same news stories and "lolcow happenings" tends to get a bit more grating.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole 2]

Writing it down by hand. You don't have to ever read what you wrote down, the act of writing it down makes you engage with, and process, the information in a different way and it will be easier to retain.