What are the consequences of being exposed to fragmented information over a long period?

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This post was last edited by qugd on 2017-4-19 at 12:13. It is a reposted article that seems very useful; in particular, it should be read by those young members who are new to Haichuan and ask questions on the forum. What are the consequences of being exposed to fragmented information over a long period? All the information you receive shapes your way of thinking. Therefore, the consequence of constantly being exposed to fragmented information is that it narrows your thinking, making it difficult to engage in complex reasoning. Fragmented information typically has the following characteristics: it is often a collection of facts rather than something logical; it greatly simplifies the reasoning process; it reduces multiple paths to just one; and it is often not rigorous or comprehensive enough. In short, in order to make things easier to understand, fragmented information usually reduces cognitive costs significantly, and the most obvious way to do this is by simplifying complex matters. They often only tell you the surface-level things, but not the underlying principles or the connections to other things. What we call \"knowledge\" consists of two parts: one is \"facts\" (or \"concepts\"), and the other is \"connections\". Facts are individual points, while connections are the lines that link these points together; the network formed by them constitutes our knowledge structure. 「\"Facts\" determine the breadth of your knowledge, while \"connections\" determine its depth. If you understand the connections between things, even if you only know ABC, you can use the inherent logic among these three to derive DE, and even F. This process is what is called thinking. But if you don’t understand their underlying logic, even if you know ABCDE, you won’t be able to determine F—you don’t know that they need to be combined, nor do you know what kind of internal logical relationship will arise once they are put together. This is the drawback of fragmented information. When we accept fragmented information, we are actually expanding the \"facts,\" but not increasing the \"connections.\" Over time, this will turn our knowledge structure into a scattergraph: isolated knowledge points float around in various places, lacking a network that connects them in an organized manner. The result of this is that fragmented knowledge, through continuous fresh content, constantly stimulates your brain, keeping you in a state of \"Ah!\" We become trapped in the joy of learning something new – and this is why it’s difficult for us to stop scrolling through Weibo or Moments, as it takes very little effort from us to immerse ourselves in the thrill of having acquired something new. However, this information, due to the lack of \"connections\" with other information, is difficult for us to \"retrieve.\" The less that can be retrieved, the more of the information that is retrieved gets pushed to the bottom of memory — thus, this fragmented information is extremely easy to forget. You think you’ve gotten a lot, but in reality you haven’t gotten anything at all. As mentioned earlier, our knowledge network determines how we think. So, being exposed to fragmented information over the long term does not improve your thinking skills—it doesn’t expand your \"network\" ； It can even be harmful – you have become *accustomed to viewing issues in terms of isolated pieces of knowledge*, accustomed to thinking at one or two levels only, and thus find it difficult to analyze things at five, six, or even deeper levels. Over time, you will weaken your ability to think about complex things. One thing to note here is that fragmented information has little to do with its source. If you are accustomed to accepting simple ideas such as “A is B,” “C is bad,” and “Because of A, therefore B,” then whether you are scrolling through Weibo, reading books, or watching online courses, what you are actually absorbing is fragmented knowledge. I mentioned earlier in a question about \"How do smart people think\" that the way smart people think is actually very simple – it can be summed up in three words: metacognition. For the same problem, smarter people will consider the background, reasons, rationality, necessity, possibilities, and so on behind it. They will consider the issue from a higher perspective, which makes it easier to find a connection that links it to some inherent \"concept\" in the distance, thereby expanding their mental network. So, if you have such awareness, then whether you’re scrolling through Weibo or reading books, you can avoid fragmented thinking. The specific approach is: Let’s talk about a few more points: First, spend some time building your own knowledge system. Go over what you already know. How to sort it out? It’s sufficient if you can name the factors influencing a particular piece of knowledge, as well as its effects on other things. By following these knowledge points in order, this network becomes the knowledge network that you have already constructed. Find the entry points to the knowledge network. That is, knowledge areas that one is interested in but has not yet explored or understood. When reading and learning, consciously engage with the knowledge related to these areas in order to expand your knowledge network. When encountering a new piece of knowledge, first consider how to integrate it into the knowledge system. In other words, recall your knowledge network in your mind and think about how it can be connected to what you already know. If the corresponding points are found, figure out the path. In other words, figure out and clarify the path between this new piece of knowledge and some previously known point. Connect them together so that this new piece of knowledge becomes a new “touchpoint” for you, thereby expanding your network of thoughts. Check and output. Explain clearly the connection between these two points. The simplest way is to teach others this knowledge by speaking or writing articles. Alternatively, repeat it in your mind to see if you can express it clearly and easily, without any obstacles. Only that which can be output is truly yours. If something cannot be incorporated into your cognitive framework, it means you’re not ready to master it at this point. In that case, simply give up on it—it holds no value for you; or rather, the cost (in terms of memory retention) far outweighs the benefits. When reading, one should not aim to \"finish a book,\" but rather to \"gain something from it.\" The content of a book cannot be 100% useful to you; there will surely be things that interest you not, as well as things that you cannot accept. It’s fine – just accept what you can. There’s no need to read it all. Even reading halfway through, putting the book back, and then jumping to read another book is a great option as well. Reading should serve oneself, rather than forcing oneself to fit it in. How to deal with those interesting, fragmented pieces of knowledge on Weibo and Zhihu? Personally, I suggest that the best way is to use them as a starting point. If you find a piece of knowledge interesting, use it as a starting point to explore the underlying principles, background, and applications. Do some research, use Google, and follow the trail. The knowledge point itself doesn’t have much value; what’s valuable is the process of exploring it. Only what you discover through exploration can be incorporated into your knowledge system and become part of your thinking. All of the above requires a considerable amount of time, but learning is inherently a difficult task; therefore, outstanding people are always rare. Those considered smart simply spend more time on things such as walking, waiting for buses, and resting. Besides, isn’t learning * itself a very interesting thing? : )