“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of
the mind to think.” –Albert Einstein.
Every day, we are training our minds to remember or
understand new words, equations, theories, theorems, names, facts, dates, titles,
events, etc. Daily, the mind races through so many different topics, it’s hard
to keep up with what you've been thinking of throughout the day. I have
realized that your brain has some specific patterns. When you are trying
something at first, it is very hard to start. If you’ve noticed, learning a
song on the guitar or piano, or learning the new concept like “dislocations and
deformations in ceramics,” (as in my materials class) the brain will make it
hard for you to understand it at first. Some chemical reactions must exist in
the brain in order for the beginning stages of learning. In order for us to
learn a new concept, we must break through the first couple of steps fighting
with the brain to put something completely new into our system of knowledge.
However, when you have already learned how to do something, and have completed
it several times, the brain knows what pathways to take to complete the task.
It is easier the second time around when you’re playing a song on the guitar or
piano. It is definitely easier to take the exam when you have been studying the
material. You feel confident with something when you’ve practiced it for a
while now, and have it been repeated in your brain.
The brain is changing when you’re learning new things. It
doesn’t matter if it is getting good or bad thoughts either. When you
repeatedly surround yourself with educated people and intelligent thoughts,
they will flow into your brain and be kept there until you have bad thoughts
again. If you keep having negative ideas, they will surround you and engulf
everything you do, and create negativity all around.
There is a difference when it comes to using phones and
computers. Over the past several years, some people may notice that they start
to think differently, all due to the fact that computerized systems have taken
over our lives. We are constantly on our iPhones, tablets, or PC’s, always
checking Facebook, email, Tumblr, Instagram, etc., anything that will distract
you from your present working condition and make your life ‘more interesting’
for a moment. While you have been repeatedly using your phone, without
realizing, your mind memory neural circuitry is changing drastically. It is
reprogramming the memory, and changing the way you memorize, remember and think
about things. A couple of years ago, without computers, people were able to
read an entire book without getting distracted by the minuscule things. The
reason why we get distracted is because we are so used to reading (actually,
should I say skimming) articles on the internet, we getting caught up in
finding something else to do for the moment. Instead of completely getting
caught up in a long article, the mind would rather do something more
interesting, like, look through the never ending pages of Facebook. We have
programmed our minds into doing such things, which is why reading has become a
hard task for us. For people who enjoy reading a real, paper book, this is not
a happy note. I personally still like to read books, and actually do catch
myself getting distracted occasionally, but not as much distraction as I get
from internet reading.
Something recently happened to my phone, and I have not had
it for the past week, and I must say, I do love not having that distraction at
my leisure. Not having a phone for a while changes your rhythm. It gets your
brain out of the comfort zone, out of your daily ritual. It actually does feel
good to not have to rely on something that has become so important in our
lives.
A little bit different food for thought: How many different
neurons are being fired, sent back and forth in everybody’s brain on a daily
basis here, on the Stevens campus? It must be an extremely large number, daily.
Just interesting to think about.
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