How to Learn Anything on the Internet: A Step-by-Step System

We Have Control Over the Content We Consume#

This belief may sound obvious. I do not think it is so obvious in the depth it entails. We have control over the content we consume. We may feel powerless and aimlessly influenced by external forces ruling our lives at a subconscious level. But there is value in personal responsibility. We are capable of more good than we can imagine, I would argue. Our limiting beliefs and competing commitments may be holding us back from achieving our potential. But what we believe is, to a great extent, under our control. Life seems to contain inherent pain, but there is a space between what happens to us and how we react to external events: in that moment there is a choice, and in that decision, there is our potential manifesting itself in front of us. This is also valid for content consumption—the core topic of this article: we can apply mindful control over what we consume, and how, and why, and what we do with that content. Although "algorithms" may have a crucial influence on how the internet works, human beings, and our consciousness can overrule that.

I have been fascinated by the potential for deep (and broad, for that matter) learning there is on YouTube in particular, and the Internet more in general. In this essay, I would like to present a step-by-step approach to learning content online (and especially on YouTube). This method contains psychological and practical steps one would need to follow mindfully should they want to tap into the potential of learning online. What is written in the first paragraph of this article is in and of itself the very first step toward unlocking the potential of learning online: we can consciously and fully resolve to have control over what we consume, and in what quantity, and through which method.