Why Does Being in Person Help You Learn?

Julie Zhuo says being in person makes a big difference to learning, because an environment where other people think about similar things gives more exposure to ideas. The amount of exposure to new ideas is an input metric for how much a person can then learn, change, and adapt. Meeting for coffee in the Bay Area, rubbing elbows, and sharing what is going on produces more of that exposure.

The internet is the forefront, and everything people want to know probably already exists there. Finding it is the work. Thinking to ask the question that leads to the answer is the larger open question.

Exposure is only the first piece. There is also how much a person can internalize. She has run many experiments on herself and with the team. Sharing even the best insight still leaves open whether it will penetrate deeply and get absorbed into a mental model of the world. A good explanation matters, and so do mood and receptiveness. The human brain is very good at filtering.