All the information you receive constitutes your way of thinking. So the consequences of long-term acceptance of fragmented information are:

Make your mind narrow and make complex thinking difficult.

Fragmented information usually has the following characteristics:

• They are often collections of facts rather than logic
• They tend to simplify the derivation process greatly
• They tend to reduce multiple paths to a single path
• They are often not rigorous and comprehensive

In short, to achieve the purpose of easy acquisition, fragmented information usually significantly reduces cognitive costs. The most obvious way is to simplify complex things.

They often only tell you what’s on the surface, but they don’t tell you the principle behind it, and the connection between it and other things.

What we call “knowledge” consists of two parts: one is “facts” (or “ideas“), and the other is “connections.”

Facts are dots, and connections are lines connecting dots. The network they form is our knowledge structure.

“Facts” determine the breadth of your knowledge, and “connections” determine the depth of your knowledge. If you understand the connection between things, even if you only know ABC, you can get DE or even F based on the internal logic of these three. This process is called thinking.

But if you don’t understand their internal logic, even if you know ABCDE, you can’t come to F. You don’t know that you need to put them together, let alone what internal logic they can show when you put them together.

This is the disadvantage of fragmented information. When we accept fragments of information, we are expanding the “facts” but not adding “connections.” If things go on like this, our knowledge structure will become a floating point map: isolated knowledge points are floating in various positions, but there is no network to connect them in an orderly manner.

The result of this is:

Fragmented knowledge constantly stimulates your brain through continuous fresh content, so you are always in the joy of “Ah! I know something new again”, making it difficult to extricate yourself. This is why it is difficult for us to restrain our Weibo and Moments. Because we only need to pay very little, we can immerse ourselves in the stimulation of “getting something new.”

However, this obtained information, because they lack the “connection” with other information, is difficult to “extract” us, and the less “extracted” the content will be squeezed at the bottom of the memory by the more extracted content. Therefore, this fragmented information is extremely easy to be forgotten by us.

You think you’ve got a lot, but you’ve got nothing.

Our knowledge networks determine how we think. Then, accepting fragmented information for a long time does not improve your thinking ability-your “network” has not expanded; it is even harmful-you have become accustomed to looking at problems with isolated knowledge points, accustomed to one-layer, Two-level thinking, which makes it difficult to conduct five-level, six-level or even deeper analysis of things. If things go on like this, you will weaken your ability to think about complex things.

One thing to note: Fragmented information has nothing to do with the source. If you are used to accepting the simple concept of “A is B,” “C is bad,” and “B is because of A,” then whether you are checking Weibo, reading, or watching public lectures, you will accept is fragmented knowledge.

The way of thinking of smart people is very simple, just three words: metacognition. For the same problem, smarter people will think about the background, reason, rationality, necessity, possibility, etc., of the problem. They will look at this problem at a higher level, so finding a line and connecting it with an inherent “concept” in the distance is easier, thereby expanding their thinking network.

Therefore, if you have such a consciousness, you can avoid fragmented cognition whether you browse Weibo or read books.

The specific way is:

Take the time to build your own body of knowledge.

Sort out what you already know. How to sort it out? Subject to your ability to tell the influencing factors of a certain knowledge point and its influence on other things. Going through such knowledge points, this network is the knowledge network you have built.

Find the contacts of the knowledge network. That is, you are interested in knowledge points that have not yet been explored and understood.

When reading and studying, consciously touch the knowledge of these contacts and extend your knowledge network.

Consider how to incorporate it into the knowledge system when coming into contact with a new knowledge point.

That is, go back to your network of knowledge in your head and think about how it can be connected to what you already know.

If the corresponding point is found, figure out the path.

That is to say, find out the path between this new knowledge point and a certain point you already know, and connect them, so that this knowledge point becomes your new “touch point” and expands your thinking network.

Check and output.

Make the connection between these two points clear. The easiest way is to teach others this knowledge through dictation and writing. Or, go over it in your mind and see if you can speak it clearly and easily, without hindrance. Only what can be exported is what belongs to you.

Content that does not conform to the above methods shall be decisively discarded.

Suppose something cannot be incorporated into your cognitive system. In that case, you cannot master it yet, so give it up decisively because it is useless to you, or the cost (of memory) is much higher than the benefit.

Knowing how to avoid accepting fragmented knowledge, you will immediately realize that systematization is the right way to learn. What you have learned can only be used for yourself if it is incorporated into your knowledge system. Unsystematic piecemeal knowledge is of no value.

Note:

1. I acquiesce that the “learning” here belongs to the category of self-improvement, not the kind of exam-taking.

2. Learning is based on interest. No interest; everything is nonsense.