One of the reasons why senior citizens lost their interest in the pursuit of learning new ideas, concepts, and skills because they see little or no change from them. It is like taking a step up your ladder, not being able to see the top any better, then stepping back down. For me, learning new things and using the information you get from education, experiences, and wisdom, has a snowball effect even if you advanced in age. If all these ideas and skills are converted into action, it will bring you closer to success.
I love researching anything and everything so I feel like I'm always learning something new. What I'm noticing is that I don't retain what I'm learning as well now that I'm older. So I save a lot of favorite places on my laptop so I can go back and refresh my memory on the things I'm learning. I also print off and keep in a notebook things that I might need a "refresher" course on.
For me sometimes it is remembering what I have learned when I need that reference. Or if doing home study work and a test must be completed. Often I am racking my brain trying to think of the right answer. One thing that has helped me is online studying where you memorize the question format and the answers. Whether it be math or heath care, or the use of English words or usages for writing I learn better by seeing the completed works and then memorizing the structure and breaking it down so that however the problem is presented I will know the answer or how to react to the circumstances.
What is helping me these days to retain and learn new things, is seeing the world through the eyes/minds of my school age grandkids. What I thought I've forgotten comes back to me in a 3rd grade science lesson or studying for a math or history test. I so enjoy working with them and it helps me as well. Only problem is that today Google is at their disposal for getting quick answers, and the teachers have to emphasize the importance of learning from books/study guides. Sign of the times ... one of them in 2nd grade, is learning Spanish now ... and gets on her tablet to hear the sounds correctly. Back when I took Spanish, it was in high school. And I only had a classroom teacher, but she could curl her tongue like none other! .. she was better than Google.
I think a lot of learning is to do with curiosity. When we are young we are curious about the whole world and learn very fast but as we do that we start building belief about things. As we get older we accumulate knowledge which makes us think we know enough to survive in life and our curiosity about things goes away. I find it easily to learn if it stimulated my curiosity and I will learn all about it or to the point which satisfies me. Thinks that I should learn but can get by without it I find it hard. I have now lived in a country who speaks Spanish and after 14+ years I still have problems but I can get my point across.
I lived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for a little over twenty years. Most people there speak Spanish (or Tex-Mex) as their primary language, and some don't speak or understand English at all. I had taken two years of Spanish in high school, but I was thirty when I moved to Texas, so that was a long time ago. I took a six-month conversational Spanish course in Brownsville, Texas, and that helped some. Then, when I began working as a paramedic, I had to communicate with my patients so I learned some more Spanish having to do mostly with signs, symptoms, medical history, etc. I never did get to a point where I felt that I was fluent in Spanish but, at the same time, I was able to get the information I needed to have about a patient to handle an emergency. Usually, my partner would be someone who spoke Spanish but, more often, my partner would be an EMT-Basic while, as an EMT-Paramedic, I would be the one in the back with the patient on the way to the hospital and patients who spoke no English, once they had communicated with my partner in better Spanish than I could manage, would sometimes get upset about having to be in the back of the ambulance with the white guy who didn't speak Spanish, and it was sometimes hard to get them to understand that I was the one who could tell what was going on with their EKG, I was the one who could start IVs, and give medications as necessary. On the other hand, whenever I worked for a company that would allow me to do that, when a patient's condition didn't require an IV, medications, or EKG, I'd let my partner do the patient care. I liked driving an ambulance, anyhow, that was less paperwork for me, and that gave my partner more experience in actual patient care. Having been in Maine for sixteen years, I can't remember very much Spanish at all. There were some people from Mexico at the laundromat here in Millinocket a couple of years ago, probably having worked in the potato harvest, so I thought I'd surprise them with someone in Maine who could speak Spanish. Although I could understand most of what they were saying, my own Spanish wasn't so good.
I agree with what @Martin Alonzo said, that when we are younger, we want to learn things, we NEED to learn things. As life goes on, sometimes we are in a position where we do the same things as a routine, and get out of the habit of learning that we had when we were in school. I also believe that it is easier for small children to learn, and they seem programmed to copy everything that they see or hear, and ask a multitude ot "why" questions about everything else. Once we are older, and have no pressing need to learn, and life is busy; it is easy to just stop learning; but when we have interests, we can continue to learn about those. I would never even consider going back to school (I hated it !); but every day, I study about something. Now that we have the Internet at our fingertips, it is easier, Anything that I have a question about can usually be found online, and with various viewpoints; so I can read about it. In that respect, it is much easier to learn now, than when I was younger. Back then, it meant a trip to the library or book store, or (at the very least) questioning someone who knew about the subject we wanted to learn about.
I do not yet know how to do the "@....." thing yet, so, Ken, I learned from a co-worker whose parents emigrated from Spain early in the last century, winding up in rural New Mexico, that many real, non-dialectic Spanish words have been battered over5 the years in general usage, just as in English. For example, there is a dry wash west of Albuquerque along I-40 named "Rio Puerco". Greg angrily denounced the common usage of Puerco, such as in stores at the meat counter, meaning "pork". He grew up knowing the word, as he claimed, dictionary-correct, as meaning "dirty". To me, "Dirty River" meant more than "pig river", so I "bought" what he said! Frank
I'm with Frank, I think for myself "speaking for myself" I have gotten set in my ways, so some things, I refuse to change, or even listen to. Other things, I am very open to learning. I am amazed at how much I've learned just in the last, few years. I've been taught that remaining teachable is a good way to be, so I strive to remain that way. Although, I have also learned that it's wise to check things out as thoroughly as possible, not always just go with a gut instinct thing.
I just learned to do the @ thing @Frank Sanoica so I can show you Frank Just put an @ sign, then the first name of the person, which will reveal a drop-down menu with names to select as I just selected yours i.e. @frank, @denise, @ken
Ah, thank you, Denise! I must then overcome my distaste for that "@" sign, having never liked it much for some reason. Is it better for whatever reason to use it, rather than simply writing in a member's name? I suspect it results in those "tagged" notices I get, and suggests someone has addressed something to me, rather than everyone. Am I "close"? Thanks! Frank
Yes you are right Frank, but if you reply to their post they get a notification anyway, so you only need to use it if you want to alert any member that you haven't replied to.