30 ‘Today I Learned’ Facts That Show It’s Never Too Late To Learn (New Pics)

The TIL online group is absolutely massive. Founded way back in late 2008, r/todayilearned has since then grown into a thriving community of 26.4 million people. They focus on sharing verified, trustworthy facts and avoid opinions and subjective interpretations.

In short, they do their darn best to check every single fact that gets posted on the subreddit. All with the help of the sprawling community, of course. If you want to be a valued member of the community, then you’ve got to be willing to put in the time and do at least some rudimentary research. What this means is being humble enough to admit when you’re wrong and when you don’t like the facts.

Not too long ago, I had an in-depth chat about learning things on the internet and choosing our future paths in education with Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom.

He told Bored Panda that the internet “can be both” a tool for good and evil, for education and distraction. It all depends on how we use this tool.

"The internet reflects the world around it, so everything you find in the world will also appear on the internet. I see it as a great shortcut to information (gone are the days of having to visit a library) that can speed up your learning and ability to do things," Steven told Bored Panda earlier.

According to Steven if we find ourselves constantly distracted and unable to focus while online, we should set clear boundaries for learning, work, and entertainment. “Set aside specific times for studying and other times for fun,” he suggested.

Few of us are strangers to burnout. In Steven’s view, burnout and apathy ambush us if things get too stressful or too boring.

“I believe that burnout awaits us at the two ends of a graph in the shape of an inverted letter 'U.' The graph represents the level of difficulty of what we're doing. If it is too high (e.g., we get too stressed, feel too insecure), we will eventually give up. But the same happens when the difficulty level is too low: when we're doing exactly the same thing over and over again," he told me.

"My little secret for avoiding apathy is giving myself little challenges, difficulties, or assumptions that I need to stick to during my tasks. This way, I can polish my skills, avoid burnout, and (as a bonus side effect) get better results over time. Try to be conscious of 'the burnout curve'—and adjust your life's challenges so that they always hit somewhere near the top of the curve,” Steven said.

The expert opened up about how we should pick our path for college and university if we’re feeling unable to choose. In his opinion, we should listen to our hearts. “Don’t choose based on things like the job you could get, as you’ll always be wishing you were doing the thing that really interests you," he said.

"If you have no idea, ask yourself what subject at school did you enjoy most? Or what other activity do you find yourself doing? Can that be a starting point as to what to study at university?"