this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2025
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As long as you continue to learn new things, then no, it doesn't become harder with age. In fact, studies show that people who are lifelong learners can actually increase their ability to learn as they age. Learning, for example, a foreign language in later years has been shown to be just as attainable as in childhood, and might even give some protection against dementia. Your brain can actually become more plastic as you age if you continuously push it to do so.
The idea that learning capacity naturally* diminishes with age seems to be a widely accepted myth (which may have roots in sociological and cultural biases), and the opposite may actually be true.
e: those biases and environmental stressors may also contribute to people becoming less able – or less prone – to try, though, and if you don't use it, you might lose that plasticity. So keep learning.
Well the 'myth' you speak of is based on the fact that the opposite of what you describe is also true. Those who lose any interest in learning new things become progressively more rigid and stuck in their mindset and become less and less likely to learn or adapt as they age. I suspect there are more people leaning towards that than lifelong learners, but I may just be a pessimist.
I think the people who are lifelong learners don’t stand out to us as much, because they’re not pig-headed cunts. Thus the societal bias.
And perhaps I’m an optimist because all the elders in my family are the plastic sort (my 89 year old father still works as an aviation engineer and still builds his own computers, for instance).
Anyway, I was talking about potential, not statistics. e: and I mean it's psycho-social, not biological.
Stupidity and ignorance makes people confident.
This one little paragraph just explained my mom, myself, and the reason the relationship between us is so contentious.
She grows ever more closed-minded every year, while I attempt to learn a new skill every year. We never saw exactly eye-to-eye, but we're now at a point where we might as well live in different universes. :(
This exactly describes me and any family member over 50. About Every single one is sucked into FOX brainrot. I can think of 1 relative out of 30 that actually has clear thoughts on societal issues.
With my own father and some others I know, I feel like the problem is less with being unable to learn new things than with being unable to unlearn things either which are no longer valid, or which were never valid but it should have become increasing obvious.
Well, your comment is a better variant of mine, i should have checked. :o) Thanks!