Sociopath Community

"I just finished a talk on my research topic and I realized that about half of my audience fell asleep. This made me wonder about a couple of things."
I'm guessing your nose was buried behind some note cards or a presentation script? Big mistake.

"There is a lot of discussion on engaging the audience, using visuals to capture their attention and performing in an entertaining way."
Indeed. I am very thankful for my theater experiences for this reason, as it's always made delivering presentations that much easier. The point of a presentation isn't to deliver facts, that sort of thing can be done by simply reading an article. The point of a presentation is to appeal to them in ways that an article can't, to sway them through a variety of means while also knowing and catering towards your audience.

Not even those who are good in a subject want to deal with a boring presentation of it. Boredom is stressful.

"Finland is known for having the best education in the world, one reason is they use very colorful school books which supposedly make students more engaged"
It also makes them easier to find. For kids (and many adults), they lose their stuff all the time. What's wrong with this?

The impact of color also has a psychological impact on a viewer. Blue can comfort, red demands one's attention, yellow makes for higher energy or tension, while white and black don't really do much as mere shades. It also helps a lot for those who are more visual learners to have graphics they can associate the material with.

"I believe making studying easy is a way of pampering students."
I disagree to an extent. Kids learn differently than adults do, eventually translating how they used to learn into how things are presented later as opposed to expecting kids to learn how to read long... boring articles printed with tiny letters that'll just make them think of their classmates, puberty problems, and how much longer it'll be until lunch time or the end of the day. For more college level students, if they're new to the subject matter they may need that additional push, especially if it's a core concept that's necessary to understand the subject as a whole. Considering how much sleep they tend to lack (and speaking as an insomniac), visuals and good delivery do a wonderful job at keeping people focused instead of seeing a sea of blurry text or hearing a voice drone on and on monotonously until it became more of a matter of pitch and vowels, no longer language.

People are highly distractable creatures who want a more active hands on approach, and as such they need ways to be interested in the topics beyond the topics themselves. It's how to instill the foundations to understand more complicated concepts in the future. They need to be inspired to bother, and once they know how something is done they'll feel more inclined to continue the path from possessing an initial understanding.


This sounds honestly more like venting angst from people finding your presentation boring. Seeing how 14 hours have passed without anyone else replying, and how I chose to ignore this topic a few times before replying to it myself, I believe that your presentation could use some work.

"What if there's a fucking power cut..."
Backup generator?

Thanks for the article, that was very interesting to read actually. I'm definitey for the digital age. People are way too far in the past already, in some places they don't even use calculators for math.

I used to be all up for what you said, making learning more fun, but I believe it poses a similar problem as most styles of karate have; they just do kata and train individual movements and do sparring by lightly tapping each other. Sure, it's very painless and they learn a lot of moves. The problem is that once it comes to a real fight those punches are not light taps and you can't do kata to defeat the bad guys.

If all learning is effortless and fun they will eventually run into trouble in a real life setting. The material won't be so fun and attractive once you enter real research and you're supposed to learn something. There also won't be a teacher to hold your hand. You're supposed to figure everything out from a bunch of very boring papers scattered around in individual publications.

Yeah, schools everywhere definitely have to adapt to make learning more fun for children and students. If learning can be done with less effort, why not?

Talking about Finland and education though: Finland is moving into the digital age by ditching the ink in favour of keyboards. What do you have to say about this? I am against it personally. What if there's a fucking power cut... Being too dependent on technology is a mistake, IMO.

"At a university level, people should be getting ready for reality."
That is true, and universities are supposed to make for that transition (along with High School somewhat). Their 101 classes are basic terminologies and a simplified curriculum that later is ideally turned into something more advanced in later classes.

People need to start somewhere.

"It's true that some university students are constantly tired and can't focus. Perhaps university is not the right place for these type of people."
Do you have something against insomniacs trying to succeed in life? What about people with other disabilities?

There's more than just hardcore partiers that find difficulty with focus and/or sleep.

That's a fairly narrow view. I get compliments for my easy presentations where I show my audience explosions and cool swirling accretion discs. I picked a theoretical one that time. The point of presentation is interactivity, otherwise you can just upload it on the Internet and your audience can watch it online.

I agree with what you said about school books. I am sure well-written and colorful textbooks are easier to understand. They are also harder to make.

Well, true, for kids who are still forced to go to school making studying easy mignt not be a huge issue. At a university level, people should be getting ready for reality. It's true that some university students are constantly tired and can't focus. Perhaps university is not the right place for these type of people.