I used to be not too long ago a visitor on a podcast the place the host requested why individuals are much less desirous about studying as they grow old.
Whereas there are actually exceptions, the remark appears legitimate. Almost all formal education is concentrated in our childhood and early maturity. Tales of individuals going again to high school of their twilight years are newsworthy exactly as a result of that is uncommon.
It additionally suits with my casual remark that individuals are way more reluctant to select up new expertise or subjects as they grow old. I discovered to downhill ski at thirty, however I solely personally know just a few individuals who started a lot older than I used to be.
This can be a worrying development. Studying is an integral a part of the great life, so if forces make it more durable (or much less fascinating) to study, it looks like it could be useful to grasp them. 

Let’s contemplate three theories, and see what they recommend we will do about defying the development.
Principle #1: Alternative Prices and Funding Horizons
The primary clarification is financial: studying is an funding. As you spend money on some expertise, however not others, you get a larger return from actions the place you’ve got appreciable coaching. Thus, your alternative price for studying new issues will increase. Subsequently, a failure to study new issues is completely rational, even when it can lead to inflexibility as we grow old.
A technique this manifests is the time horizon it’s a must to recoup an funding. A twenty-year-old presumably has forty years for a profession to earn again an arduous coaching interval. A fifty-year-old solely has ten. Subsequently, youthful folks ought to have the ability to make longer, riskier investments than those that want them to repay shortly.
One other approach this could happen is that if funding in a single ability makes time spent on new expertise comparatively much less enticing. If I’ve zero data of programming and accounting however equal potential means, then the 2 are roughly the identical for me. In distinction, if I’ve a decade of programming expertise, then an hour spent programming might be way more invaluable than an hour spent studying accounting. The economic system incentivizes specialization, even when we’d choose to be extra well-rounded.
Principle #2: We’re Too Busy
One other clarification for dwindling curiosity is that life will get busier as you grow old. I really feel this acutely at the moment. Once I evaluate my schedule now, with a toddler at dwelling and a enterprise that employs a number of folks, I really feel much more time-constrained than once I was in my twenties.
Studying new issues takes time. Whereas effectivity will help, the time price for even well-designed studying could also be prohibitive for busy professionals with youngsters.
Power might matter much more than time. Should you work full-time at a mentally-demanding job and have duties at dwelling, you might not have the vitality wanted to spend money on a cognitively-demanding mission. Binge-watching Netflix might not be the place you’d ideally prefer to spend your time, however it is sensible in the event you really feel chronically exhausted.
This additionally helps clarify why there is usually a sudden urge to study after retirement. With youngsters gone and work stopping, folks lastly have the time to have interaction in studying tasks they have been sidelining throughout their profession.
Principle #3: Older Minds Can’t Be taught as Effectively
The preferred clarification I hear for declining schooling is that while you’re older, your mind merely can’t take in new data as shortly.
There’s a grain of fact to this. Fluid intelligence peaks in your early twenties and declines afterward. Nevertheless, the decline is gradual and minimal. The analysis I’ve seen appears to point that it’s solely a major problem in superior age. Even then, there’s excessive variance, with some folks changing into senile and others experiencing few points.
That stated, age is usually a bonus to studying. Older individuals are normally extra accountable and arranged, which assists in sticking to a mission. Additionally, collected data could make studying simpler. Your previous expertise is usually a big profit when delving deeper into topics you’ve beforehand studied or associated fields.
Total, I’m much less satisfied that age per se is a major issue, although it’s oft-cited.
How Can We Maintain Studying Lifelong?
Given the potential theories, I feel there are some things we will do to proceed studying:
- Scale back the trouble for studying. At all times carry a guide with you. Arrange your surroundings so studying tasks can begin and cease on demand. Decide tasks that overlap with profession, social or parenting objectives so you possibly can justify the time funding.
- Put aside time for experiments. Easy calculus means that doing what you’re already good at has the most effective payoff. However you gained’t encounter practically as many alternatives in the event you by no means study something new. Setting apart time for hobbies you’re dangerous at, books nothing about or expertise you’ve by no means practiced could appear wasteful, however it’s follow to keep away from getting caught in a rut.
- Shift your focus away from expertise that contain fast wits to those who depend on collected data. The decline in fluid intelligence is overrated as an explainer for studying difficulties. And in addition, there’s a motive why groundbreaking mathematicians skew youthful than historians. Shifting to knowledge-intensive topics looks like an total sound technique.
Above all, nevertheless, I feel dropping curiosity in studying is a selection. For each development, there are exceptions. With the precise angle, you might be certainly one of them.