Something I’ve wondered

[Bowguy67]

When I was a kid everything was passed down or learned by mistakes. It all was time consuming and surely you didn’t know what you didn’t know.
Today w multiple forums I believe knowledge is passed way more freely but have some guys “lost their brains” because of this?
I’m not referring to suggestion of opinion, ideas, etc. but some guys want you to do it all for em and they never question what may or may not work better in their situation. That’s limiting and limited to what they’re told. I think knowledge is great, shared information is fantastic but we gotta remember we can’t improve past that if we don’t analyze what’s best in a situation nor know if something is better if we don’t try.
Think about the first guy that put a string on his spear and called it a bow. His brain wasn’t turned off nor should ours

[McDave]

I wonder about the same things.  When we were young, it took some effort to find things out.  We got opinions from people we knew, we read the newspapers, magazines, looked things up at the library or in our encyclopedia at home, or tried to figure things out ourselves.  Now, the first thing anyone does is to whip out their phone and ask Google, Wickipedia, or some other on-line source.  I’m sure we have much more information available now at our fingertips than at any time in history, but have we lost the ability to critically analyze this flood of information?  I don’t know the answer to this question, but I do know that we tend to value the things more that we have to work for than things that are just handed to us. 

[trasher]

I think more information is nice and good, but it doesn't help if you don't have any experience!
A simple example:
You can read on the internet how to shoot a bow technically perfect. Now you know how to do it.
But can you shoot a bow now? No, you can't, because you lack every experience!
When I was a kid, we gathered experience to find out how things work! And we use every possibility, as the previous posts described it.
Apart from the fact that a lot of informations on the internet are accepted as the absolute truth.
Yes, we have a problem
If you get everything prechewed without being active yourself, you become less critical with time, because you lack every personal experience to assess the information.

I think  a todays widely used attitude is, I want it all as fast as I can, but I am not willing to do anything for it.
sign of the times.

My 2cents

[Alexander Traditional]

I really agree with what Andy said. I've gotten into a number of things,and read on it,saw videos on you tube,but it took a few times doing it and gaining experience. Looked very easy,but was very hard when actually trying it for ypurself.

I think information is a good thing. I think a lot of people now don't like to try or quit trying whrn it's not as easy as they saw it or heard it.

[Mark R]

I concur with all, I'm more inclined to help someone trying hard to figure something out on there own more than someone just waiting for me to give them the answer.

[M60gunner]

I wonder myself at times. The internet is a great thing on one hand but isn’t an experience teacher on the other. Then there is shall we say some (resentment) by some of us old guys who didn’t have a  quick reference like the internet? Yes, I am guilty of using the internet for lots of “lookups” like finding a species of wood or map references. Learning how to shoot a bow from the internet, I have my doubts. Who’s going to tell you if your doing it correctly or not? Opps, who knows, maybe online lessons in the future. It’s doable now come to think of it.

[trasher]

Yes, I am guilty of using the internet for lots of “lookups” like finding a species of wood or map references.

No, you are not. I think there is a difference, you only found an easy way to get information about things you have experiences with in general. you want to know about something about a spezial wood because you've been working with wood for a long time, but you don't ask how to process wood in general.

@Mark
Yes, it is good and for me also an emotinale thing, to pass experiences and to see how the pupil makes his experiences and grows up getting better and better. There  be should an interchance between  both, and it should be a game of give and take.

If you always deliver only complete solutions, this is very one-sided and unsatisfactory for both.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

This is a touchy subject that some people may take personally. Back in the day pre internet, people had more time.

Good mentors and good students. Now these people are few and far between. It's not just with archery but with everything.

How many times do you hear people say they are too busy???

Never used to hear it.

[toddster]

You right, I see it in "hunters of today", they always want to ask, "why".   Now there is nothing wrong with that, but first try and engage your mind.  Example, last month had this young lady whom I began "teaching" bowhunting too.  Over the summer, had her shooting great, she was reading all the book's I suggested, like a sponge.  Well, we was sitting on the ground in a great brush pile together, and several does came in, I noticed them first, as they was out about 30 yards.  I sat there, slowly turned my head to see her reaction when she finally seen them.  She had her cell phone out, and was texting someone.  She then began to giggle a little after a bit.  I could also tell the deer was coming on the trail and about 15 yards out, in the shooting lane I made.  She then said, "OMG thats funny", out loud.  The deer busted out of there, like they was on fire.  We both then could see, the white flags flying, across a picked field.  I kid you not, she looked at me and said "Well, Why did they spook like that?"  I just put my head in my hands

[Cyclic-Rivers]

  that's a funny story toddster...

[Lakerat007]

Personally, think there might be a lot of stuff available online but feel the overwhelming majority of it is pure crap designed to push product. Can see how a newcomer can get lost in the weeds and fall into a life long quest for gadgetry. For myself I prefer to just nudge in the right direction and allow them to get the satisfaction of connecting the dots versus just giving out answers. Would bet my best cold weather boots you could tell a greenhorn sit in this tree on the next north wind, the deer will come from over there, shoot it when it stands here broadside at 12 yards. And they would have a 99% chance of screwing the pooch. Failure is where u learn in my opinion and today's crowd just can't handle it.

[dresnor]

I come from the "trust, but verify" camp.

Jeremy

[Sam McMichael]

I think that most of us learned this way. Somebody we admired told us something , and we believed it totally. We would defend that point of view, because that was what we "knew". As time went by, we observed other methods and noted successes by those who held opposing views and employed other practices. Through these experiences, we broadened our views and realized that some of our beliefs needed to change. Experience is a great teacher, but it sometimes takes time to learn certain lessons. Now, the internet inundates us with "stuff", which often overwhelms our intellect. We have to sort through it, which takes us back to the notion of gaining experience. Unfortunately, some still believe all they read on the internet. Perhaps the best way to learn all this stuff is to spend time in the woods and follow a few simple precepts: 1) find a god location, 2) point your nose into the wind, 3) be still, 4) be quiet, 5) PICK A SPOT. As simple as this sounds, numerous skills must be developed over time to do these things correctly. Trial and error is part of this process. Toddster, with a little reflection, that young lady will understand why the deer spooked. Essentially, even for us more seasoned hunters, time is often more of a factor in our learning than "information" itself. This is an interesting topic. Have you noticed that many of us are using different explanations to make essentially the same points. I guess that means we have picked up a lot of experience reinforced by trial and error.

[trasher]

Failure is where u learn in my opinion and today's crowd just can't handle it.

Well said , you nailed it!

@Sam M.
Good statemant, I agree!


@toddster
Ya, man that's too funny, and exactly what I meant.
You can only shake your head and ask yourself: OK, at what point did the further processing of information fail?...........before, everything seemed to work. haha
!

[George Vernon]

I believe our culture has been forever changed by portable ‘smart’ devices and the internet.  Some of the change is positive—we can access information and each other instantly.  Some of it is negative—we access lots of information but don’t know if it’s true, nor does the internet provide the ‘common sense’ to pick and use data carefully.

But, perhaps the biggest negative is we have become accustomed to ‘instant’ access/gratification.  Which, I think, has caused a big loss of patience.  My kids laugh when their Mom and I tell them when we were dating and attending schools in different cities, we could exchange letters about once per week.  Could not afford long distant phone charges, so we would wait for the USPS.

In my engineering studies I had to learn how to derive, from scratch, all the major math theorems.  Today, you can get apps that allow you to take a photo of a calculus intergral and get the answer in milliseconds.  But you have no idea if it’s right because you never learned how to do the work from scratch.

I think archery in general, and traditional archery in particular are ‘journeyman’ activities.  As a student you watch and the teacher demonstrates.  Then you and the teacher do together, and then you ‘do’ and the teacher watches and then you are on your own.

I fear some folks who are attracted to the ‘witchery of archery’ may not be willing to put in the time and sweat equity to learn all the details themselves.  They are products of our now, instant gratification society.  Perhaps that is why crossbows have become so popular. 

[McDave]

But, perhaps the biggest negative is we have become accustomed to ‘instant’ access/gratification.  Which, I think, has caused a big loss of patience.  My kids laugh when their Mom and I tell them when we were dating and attending schools in different cities, we could exchange letters about once per week.  Could not afford long distant phone charges, so we would wait for the USPS.

This is very true.  I have taught archery for our club for years, and the general reaction to a three hour class is an enthusiastic start, great interest for the first few rounds of arrows, followed by a rapidly decreasing level of interest as they discover that the arrows aren’t going in the bullseye very often.  Unfortunately, the same seems to be true of my own grandchildren.  My son texted me that he wanted to take me out to lunch for Veterans Day with my two grandchildren.  I said “sure, meet me at 11:30, or if you want to shoot some arrows, come an hour early.”  After enough time to ask the kids what they wanted to do, I guess, he texted back, “fine, see you at 11:30.”  It was great to see them for lunch, but I hope some day to meet ONE kid who has enough interest to stick with archery long enough to get good at it.

[Chain2]

McDave, If I ever get back in your area. If you give me a lesson, I’ll gladly by lunch. How about the Claim Jumper. I love their cake. Sorry guys I got off topic.

[McDave]

Thanks Jim!  Anyone from TradGang has an open invitation to come shoot a round with me at my club whenever they're in the area.

[Pine]

This thread hits it on the head.
Finding things on the internet is like looking for a particular item that you need in a garbage dump.
You have to sort through a lot of junk before you find something useful.
And a newbie doesn't have the experience to know the difference.