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Show HN: Addicted to Learning

by rstnpce on 10/11/24, 2:26 PM with 3 comments

Isn’t it strange how we can spend hours mindlessly scrolling through social media, yet struggle to focus for even a fraction of that time on learning something meaningful?

Why is it easier to absorb endless streams of stupid content than to invest in something that can truly enrich us?

Obviously, we get constant dopamin hits with the former and the latter feels like effort, right?

Wrong!

I mean, think about it, when you finally understand a math problem and get that AHA-moment, this is the biggest hit of dopamin you can ever imagine, no?

So, if you ask me, the biggest difference between being addicted to learning vs. social media is the delay of gratification.

Also, social algorithms know you very well. They know exactly when it’s time to show you something that you like to keep you engaged.

Luckily, the same applies to resourceful content. If you interact with that 2h every day, an algo trained on your behavior also knows the ins- and outs of how you learn and get to your small and big AHA-moment the quickest.

So, who’s building this?

We do. It’s called evulpo.

A learning companion that delivers aha-moments for K-12 students. We source the content from the teachers, run it through our algorithm, and provide it to each student in a way where they learn best (i.e., get the AHA-moment).

Thoughts? And also, how can we make it work in the US?

  • by JohnFen on 10/11/24, 2:57 PM

    > I mean, think about it, when you finally understand a math problem and get that AHA-moment, this is the biggest hit of dopamin you can ever imagine, no?

    Not really, but I do get that when I've completed a challenging project. I love learning and engage in it constantly, but it's never given me a dopamine hit.

    > the biggest difference between being addicted to learning vs. social media is the delay of gratification.

    That may be a factor, but I really do think the largest difference is being mentally passive vs mentally active. Social media requires no effort. You let it wash over you. It's the same as television: mental candy, empty calories. Learning requires mental effort. It's like a full meal.

    All that said, people vary a lot on this sort of thing and so a tool like this may be very useful to many.

  • by 082349872349872 on 10/11/24, 3:22 PM

    Could you maybe provide an annotated transcript showing how the algorithm nudges the AHA-moment? I tried a path giving both correct and incorrect answers, but didn't see anything that would make me believe there was any more going on than straight gamification.

  • by drpossum on 10/11/24, 3:19 PM

    > this is the biggest hit of dopamin you can ever imagine, no?

    No. I would imagine the biggest hit of dopamine would be literally injecting dopamine into my system.