Caught in the Study Web(every.to)
every.to
Caught in the Study Web
https://every.to/cybernaut/caught-in-the-study-web
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There's lots of communities on the internet. People who do DIY home improvements, gamers, programmers and countless more. Similarly there are people who want to study or be productive. Of course their network spans across platforms, just like any other passion people may have. Giving this phenomena a specific name - "Study Web" makes it seem like it's something well established or institutionalized. Which is just not true. The subtitle of the article "Exploring Gen Z’s Ambitious and Anxiety-Fuelled Pursuit of
Straight A’s Across YouTube, TikTok, Discord, and Twitter" does a much better job of describing the article for what it is. What's next? DIY Web, Music Web, Cat Pictures Web.
> "Study Web" makes it seem like it's something well established or institutionalized. Which is just not true
Does it? I'm not sure what institutions I'd expect to see for the "X web" for any X. Decentralised, innit.
> DIY Web, Music Web, Cat Pictures Web
A very long time ago there were "webrings" for that. Nowadays there's definitely cute names for subcommunities on platforms; "witchtok" and "weird twitter" come to mind, but "gamer youtuber" (in the style of pewdiepie) was practically synonymous with "youtuber" at one point.
Does it? I'm not sure what institutions I'd expect to see for the "X web" for any X. Decentralised, innit.
> DIY Web, Music Web, Cat Pictures Web
A very long time ago there were "webrings" for that. Nowadays there's definitely cute names for subcommunities on platforms; "witchtok" and "weird twitter" come to mind, but "gamer youtuber" (in the style of pewdiepie) was practically synonymous with "youtuber" at one point.
I've been playing around with designs for a "learn X together" site/service.
The StudyWeb seems to be an emergent phenomenon across existing social media platforms, with an intense focus on helping young students pass the current system's institutionalized checks/tests/hoops.
What about MOOCs, all of those cool Youtube lecture playlists, in-depth articles, that cool textbook some enterprising prof published online for free? I can't count the number of times I think "I would definitely love to learn this!" but inevitably I lose focus, motivation, or time. I want something where other people can join me, commit to regular meetings, share in a space where we're all learning the same thing.
I know communities have grown up organically around various YouTubers, bloggers, and specific topics – and the StudyWeb definitely has aspects of this – but the best current advice for finding a learning group is "search for a reddit or Discord". There's got to be a better way.
The StudyWeb seems to be an emergent phenomenon across existing social media platforms, with an intense focus on helping young students pass the current system's institutionalized checks/tests/hoops.
What about MOOCs, all of those cool Youtube lecture playlists, in-depth articles, that cool textbook some enterprising prof published online for free? I can't count the number of times I think "I would definitely love to learn this!" but inevitably I lose focus, motivation, or time. I want something where other people can join me, commit to regular meetings, share in a space where we're all learning the same thing.
I know communities have grown up organically around various YouTubers, bloggers, and specific topics – and the StudyWeb definitely has aspects of this – but the best current advice for finding a learning group is "search for a reddit or Discord". There's got to be a better way.
I was thinking along similar lines. A place to setup a short-term "team" of people interested in a topic, with or without a "teacher", to "study" said topic on their own - organizing, having discussions, distributing and presenting the work, sharing the learnings and disbanding. The social media platforms can be used for the organizing and coordinating parts. I am not into web-design but thought over this idea for a web-site just for publishing and discovering an interest or specific task. WOuld be something I would use if it exists. On a side note, even started a subreddit (teamdo) [0] which got zero traction (haven't advertized it anywhere) - wish it got some interest to try it out as a prototype.
[0] http://reddit.com/r/teamdo
[0] http://reddit.com/r/teamdo
> “The number of young people who showed up at the main University of Missouri hospital emergency room with suicidal ideation was up by 25 percent in February 2021 compared with the same month the year before. Nationwide, those numbers also seem to be elevated, according to research published in Pediatrics in March.”
> Though the number of deaths by suicide among young people has decreased during the pandemic, likely due to “greater parental oversight,”...
How can you use the first statistic as evidence while simultaneously writing off the lower death rate? You could just as easily make the opposite argument, saying that deaths are down due to reduced pressure on kids but ER visits are up due to higher parental oversight of the subset of kids that are still struggling.
(I'm not saying that's more likely than the first interpretation; just poking holes in the logic of the argument laid out in the article.)
> Though the number of deaths by suicide among young people has decreased during the pandemic, likely due to “greater parental oversight,”...
How can you use the first statistic as evidence while simultaneously writing off the lower death rate? You could just as easily make the opposite argument, saying that deaths are down due to reduced pressure on kids but ER visits are up due to higher parental oversight of the subset of kids that are still struggling.
(I'm not saying that's more likely than the first interpretation; just poking holes in the logic of the argument laid out in the article.)
I find everything about this weird and sad. I wonder how much of this is:
1. A product of social media itself—the usual stuff it gets vilified for: zero-sum attention economy, promoting negative self-esteem, etc.
2. The average Zoomer rising to meet very real pressures that previously did not exist.
3. The web providing new visibility to a neurotic personality that has always existed.
It's probably a mix, but I wouldn't be surprised if this could mostly be attributed to the third point. I can think of people from my own school days who would be caught up in something like this. I didn't like any of them.
1. A product of social media itself—the usual stuff it gets vilified for: zero-sum attention economy, promoting negative self-esteem, etc.
2. The average Zoomer rising to meet very real pressures that previously did not exist.
3. The web providing new visibility to a neurotic personality that has always existed.
It's probably a mix, but I wouldn't be surprised if this could mostly be attributed to the third point. I can think of people from my own school days who would be caught up in something like this. I didn't like any of them.
I think it's the result of rising inequality (especially in America).
The rich get richer and the rest just keep sinking lower and lower, with stagnant wages and ever growing inflation.
You got to kill yourself to stay afloat or risk drowning.
The rich get richer and the rest just keep sinking lower and lower, with stagnant wages and ever growing inflation.
You got to kill yourself to stay afloat or risk drowning.
I think a case can be made for 2. Young Americans are probably more aware of the vanishing middle class than they would have been in previous generations, so they feel more pressure to work hard at a chance for a better life. They believe, accurately, that getting into a good college will vastly improve their chances of success.
on the other hand they're hardly sorrounded with signs of ways of getting cash/succcess/yada yada "easily"
streamers, youtubers, onlyfans, influencers, fake/successful (survivor bias?) people on social media
those (mainstream) probably do not promote solid work ethic, or are healthly
streamers, youtubers, onlyfans, influencers, fake/successful (survivor bias?) people on social media
those (mainstream) probably do not promote solid work ethic, or are healthly
Surprised Focusmate isn't listed here! I love that as an alternative because a lot of these still seem too social/public to me. Focusmate is 1 on 1. Anyway it's interesting to see all this stuff in one place because I didn't know about a lot of these - just run up across things randomly in searching for information on productivity/study.
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I am glad to see that correct learning techniques are spreading(active recall & anki), but I am not under the same pressure as these students.
I used those same technique, even podomoro but I am under zero pressure. Instead I learn for pleasure and to achieve non-academic goals.
I used those same technique, even podomoro but I am under zero pressure. Instead I learn for pleasure and to achieve non-academic goals.
I think the "video stream of someone working/studying" thing might actually work for me.
I've found libraries, cafés, and labs to be more productive work environments than typical offices. I think it's because 1) they were either quiet or had constant background noise, 2) there was more privacy/anonymity/freedom, and 3) more people seemed to be actively working on projects and not just trying to look busy.
Also probably fewer interruptions - interruptions are ruinous for any task that requires concentration.
I've found libraries, cafés, and labs to be more productive work environments than typical offices. I think it's because 1) they were either quiet or had constant background noise, 2) there was more privacy/anonymity/freedom, and 3) more people seemed to be actively working on projects and not just trying to look busy.
Also probably fewer interruptions - interruptions are ruinous for any task that requires concentration.
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The balance of the world has been broken, the bullies were exiled and now the age of terror has begun ...
I have been there, its all over the places, but they study less but most of them are perverts, if you are a female and will post something like - you looking for a study-buddy, 99% of the responses you will get will be some perverts of age 40-45
who the talking about gen Z, when perverts of gen X are still studying, in med school.
who the talking about gen Z, when perverts of gen X are still studying, in med school.
> [...] On Study Web, while stressed, students have accepted their lot—they’re not investigating the rightness or wrongness of the pressurized environment of the Gen Z student or asking whether college is worth it at all.
Seems to me that's kinda the nature of a "study motivation" stream.
There's a place for questioning the premise - but a study motivation stream ain't it.
Every runner knows you don't have to complete a marathon, it's a lot of work for little reward, you shouldn't push past the point of injury, and you can drop out of training at any time. But if someone asks you for motivation to complete a marathon you don't question the premise, you just tell them "go on, you can do it"