I agree that Wikipedia is mostly empty mind-calorie.
Typical example for me: yesterday I had a question about hypobaric combustion. I found the answer, and because I had a question in mind before I looked for it, I will probably remember that answer for a very long time. However, by the time I finished my search, I had another four tabs open, and by the time I closed my browser, I had probably read through around a hundred pages. I remember their content pretty well, and will probably remember it decently next week, and probably remember some of it well in a year (the page on Howard Hughes, I expect).
However, I can’t absorb that much information in two hours. If I want to keep it in long-term memory, I need to put it into my Anki decks, but that would probably take more than an entire day. 20 hours is probably an underestimate, actually. That’s a clear sign that I’m running on the “yay I learned something!” impulse rather than actually trying to learn things. Another clear sign is how often I go back to the same pages, still without bothering to put it into Anki. It’s an impulse society is not very judgmental about, so I have difficulty feeling ashamed of it and correcting my behavior.
I agree that Wikipedia is mostly empty mind-calorie.
Typical example for me: yesterday I had a question about hypobaric combustion. I found the answer, and because I had a question in mind before I looked for it, I will probably remember that answer for a very long time. However, by the time I finished my search, I had another four tabs open, and by the time I closed my browser, I had probably read through around a hundred pages. I remember their content pretty well, and will probably remember it decently next week, and probably remember some of it well in a year (the page on Howard Hughes, I expect).
However, I can’t absorb that much information in two hours. If I want to keep it in long-term memory, I need to put it into my Anki decks, but that would probably take more than an entire day. 20 hours is probably an underestimate, actually. That’s a clear sign that I’m running on the “yay I learned something!” impulse rather than actually trying to learn things. Another clear sign is how often I go back to the same pages, still without bothering to put it into Anki. It’s an impulse society is not very judgmental about, so I have difficulty feeling ashamed of it and correcting my behavior.