This post has been rolling around in my head for a while and after reading Stephen Abram’s response to Emily Lloyd’s strip about 23 Things I’m putting fingers to keyboard to get it out.
My reaction to Emily’s post is different from Stephen’s. What I see is how important it is to keep learning. 23 Things was, and still is, great. But let’s not forget lesson 2 was on life long learning. The purpose of 23 Things was to get your feet wet, a place to start, test the water, so you could jump in and swim, not continue to sit on the dock.
We have this idea that once we’ve memorized all the dates, learned the facts and pass the test we are done. I think it starts in school. You learn something, you take a test, write an essay and check! you’re done learning about that on to the next thing. There is no focus on ongoing learning. I talk about this when I talk about transliteracy, you are no longer done learning. You can not learn Flickr, or Twitter or how to use your current phone and declare yourself transliterate, it is a journey, a process. There is no end.
Which brings me to my rant (I have a birthday coming up I suspect I’m becoming old and cranky).
I hear over and over from people – I don’t have time to learn all those new things, how do you keep up with everything, I don’t have time for that. Guess what? You do. Turn off the tv, put down the gossip magazine, quit watching cute cat videos on YouTube and start learning. You do have time, you are just choosing to spend it doing something else. When you say you don’t have time what you are saying is that it is not a priority. That’s fine, we all have different priorities. But stop telling me you don’t have time, you do.
Stop complaining that no one gives you time to learn these new fangled things like Twitter at work. Why should they? (yes I can think of numerous reasons why they should) But if they aren’t or wont, take some initiative! Continual learning makes you a better person, a better employee and a more informed citizen. Stop waiting for someone to hold your hand and show you the way. Figure out how to use an iTouch on your own, hear about a new site or online service on the news or from a friend? Check it out! You’re smart, you have common sense, you don’t need me there telling you not to post your home address or publish those pictures of you from that vacation you took at the nude beach. Really. You can do it!
Librarian by Day 
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