A close friend and I had a passionate debate about Quora over the holidays. He is a big fan and was working hard to convert me to one too. His argument was that it’s the best way to use little breaks during the day – nice easy way to gather knowledge. My argument, on the other hand, is that Quora isn’t as good for you as might be led to believe.
First, let me quickly point out that I love what Quora has done. It’s a great newer version of Yahoo! Answers to me and I’d definitely get on Quora if I had a specific question. I don’t contribute to the content yet. Maybe that will change someday.
I just don’t think Quora is a good investment of pockets of time during the day. I would prefer to either stare into space during the small pockets and try and carve out a larger pocket to lead a good book.
Why? Bandwidth. We have very limited bandwidth and I believe we must use it wisely. If we’re accumulating knowledge in a day, I’d rather we do it in a structured and focused manner. Quora doesn’t do that. A book does. I have a similar argument against TED. The other complication with both these services is that you can also spend an hour on both of these services and come out with near 0 learning or insight.
So, is it a better use of your time than scanning your Facebook feeds? Maybe. Even that might be debatable because your friends on Facebook might throw up useful content occasionally. Social media has made serendipitous knowledge gathering easy. Feedback and engagement is instantaneous and I admire the attempt of services like Quora and TED to make knowledge gathering instantaneous and easy as well.
Yes, gathering knowledge (and wisdom?) from a book isn’t as easy. But it’s better.
A Learning a Day 