Keep Calm and Start Learning

There is one subject on everyone’s mind at this time and I want to write about it in the context of learning. As an eternal optimist, I see this is an unprecedented time for learning, for several reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trivialising anything, but I’m programmed to see opportunity in adversity.

The first reason is straightforward; many people find themselves in situations where they will have more time during working hours. You may save your commute time and there may be tasks that no longer need to be done if you are not in the office. You may find that you have time you don’t immediately know how to fill. It’s a perfect opportunity to learn about something that interests you or to do that online course you keep meaning to do. There is a huge amount of learning material on the internet and much of it is free.

However, the second reason is more complex. We are bombarded with information from multiple sources, and that is never truer than in times of crisis. Who has lived through a critical global pandemic before? No-one. Most of the information online is very skewed towards worst-case scenarios and emotional responses. This is completely understandable; fear is the best form of social control in times like this. Spreading fear is the best way to get people to fall into line with demands for change that don’t benefit us. This is not conspiracy theory nonsense, it’s simple human psychology.

But fear makes us panic and panic makes us stop thinking and start reacting. This is turn drives behaviour which then spreads and drives more fear. Panic buying of toilet roll is a perfect example of this illogical behaviour triggered by fear which then expands and accelerates into a crowd-driven, ‘they are doing it so I should be doing it’ type response. The result is a frankly surreal shortage of toilet roll.

But if you take a breath and control that reaction, stop your brain going into fight-or-flight overdrive, you are able to question what you are reading or doing. You are able to look for the facts and the science in the journalistic hyperbole and social media scaremongering. Whilst very few of us can accurately interpret the scientific data, we can all learn something from it and the activity that it drives. We’re in a situation that has never occurred previously and hopefully will never occur again, don’t miss this opportunity by being paralysed by fear.

There is an immediacy right now in the effects of our leaders’ actions on our everyday lives, perhaps never seen before except possibly in war time. Governments make decisions and our lives change within days or even hours. Suddenly there are no experts; no-one knows if those decisions are right or wrong and the stakes have never been higher; businesses, economies, lives.

As hard as it is, try to take a step back and observe what is happening in learning mode. Absorb the rhetoric but be sure to examine the data underneath it. Think about causes and effects, intended and unintended. Do your own modelling, you don’t need to be a Data Scientist. Discuss and debate with your family, friends and colleagues, explain it to your children; give them permission to be interested and curious, not just scared or angry. Discuss the different approaches that countries are taking and follow how they are working.

We can all learn so much from this time about politics, economics, government policies, leadership, medicine but more importantly, humanity, good and bad. This is a great opportunity to learn about humanity; let’s not allow our humanity to stop us learning.