For some time I’ve been consuming a lot of material on certain subjects I am interested in. Daily commentary, regular blogs, every interview a few people that I follow give, various background info related, etc. I’ve been doing it for over a year, often more than 3-4 hours per day. I’ve become quite informed, sure. But I have to admit that I don’t recall the contents of the information that I consumed all that well. Certainly not well enough to debate someone on the topic.
Perhaps this is a limitation of my own brain physiology, or deficiencies in the approach I’ve taken to consuming the information, and others would have faired better in my place. But this experience has made me seriously doubt the effectiveness of such consumption if the goal is to learn, as the OP advocates.
Thankfully that wasn’t necessarily a goal for me personally, I was just satisfying my interest in the subject I care deeply about.
Perhaps this is a limitation of my own brain physiology, or deficiencies in the approach I’ve taken to consuming the information, and others would have faired better in my place. But this experience has made me seriously doubt the effectiveness of such consumption if the goal is to learn, as the OP advocates.
Thankfully that wasn’t necessarily a goal for me personally, I was just satisfying my interest in the subject I care deeply about.