I am a native English speaker and am relatively well skilled with my words, yet I don't use a broad vocabulary or flowery language. A large part of the reason is that reading content that has had a thesaurus throw up on it annoys me, as it is unnecessary and most of the time, feels forced and engineered to try and sound clever.
But, this doesn't mean I write simply either and if you haven't noticed, I generally don't get to the point, nor bullet-point the points that I am pointing toward. I use analogy to create a visual representation and an example to build upon - and I often use a convoluted grammatical structure that makes it difficult to comprehend, at first reading. Not everything of course, just some parts.
There is a very good reason for this and it is to do with retention of information, where we are more likely to remember things that we have had to work for in order to understand. A difficult to read font that requires some deciphering or a sentence structure that has a few twists and turns with an unexpected word order. The reason this can help learning is that it forces the brain to slow down and step outside of the default patterns. It makes the brain think.
People like information that they can get fast and easy, but that is only really good if troubleshooting a problem that might not be required again - Do Step 1, Step 2, Step 3. In order to actually understand something however, investment needs to be made into creating the frame and adding the bricks to build the concept and easy to get information doesn't come with a lot of mental mortar, and the bricks soon fall out of position.
The retention is further driven by a sunk cost scenario, where people have worked for something that they don't want to lose, as well as value what they have accomplished themselves. I remember those days back in high school where I was struggling over some math problem and then "click" the light bulb of understanding turned on and I got it. It is a great feeling to work toward something and accomplishing it, it is a great feeling to feel that we have understood something of value - so we value it - we hold onto it.
The other day I write a post called, The best post of the day about trying to deliver something of value to the audience. As I see it, it isn't valuable other than for entertainment purposes if it isn't remembered when it is required. Again as I see it, knowing isn't doing either, so getting the list of tasks doesn't mean that list is backed with the skills and understanding to perform if circumstances change slightly.
Many people seem to be act like a line of ants with a stick laid across it whenever things change slightly, which indicates to me that they don't actually have a great understanding, they are just following orders. I don't think acting robotically on lists is what humans should be doing, I think we should be thinking and doing for ourselves. To do this requires skills and some level of thought that allows for a wider spread of problem solving ability - following lists keeps us narrow.
The thing I find is that we are appreciative of what we work for and value what we have created - and I think that learning doesn't need to be fun for us to enjoy it, it needs to give us the sense that we did it - it wasn't just dumped into us with no reason other than to pass a test. We need to find our own why for learning and that has to come from us, not someone else, which is why I try to give a lot of space around my words for a member of the audience to make their own path.
As I said the other day, I want people to find a thread that interests them and then, pull. This is where the deepest insights and greatest loves comes from - the investment into discovery.
Not everyone realizes that the knowledge they hold that they consider valuable is generally got through some kind of difficulty or barrier, something to overcome. Because of this, most will chase easy and consume a mass of information fast, with most of it becoming worthless mere seconds after reading as it is either forgotten, or not learned to the point that it offers some practical usage.
Hurdles to reading put a lot of people off, whether it be the length of article, the words used, or the concepts within - but if it was so easy to get that everyone had it, would it maintain its value, would it offer a competitive advantage? Unlikely.
Fast, easy and valuable - pick any two.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]