While Bitcoin has become easier to use over the years, it's a lot to learn for a complete noob.
Many people are put off by that and are postponing it indefinitely, because "I can always do it tomorrow", a tomorrow that never seems to come, because it's easier to stay within the familiar territory, which provides enough instantly gratifying attractions and distractions that the human mind doesn't feel compelled to venture out of it. They think "it's too techie for me" and are overwhelmed by it. The tech stack and the UX are getting better, and it can be simplified, but it can only be made so simple, because some things we can't compromise on.
It's always good to discuss and refine a hierarchy of priorities for what's important to learn first, so people can be onboarded quickly and then improve their skillset and self-sovereignty gradually.
But they still have to make that first step and convince themselves it's worth it.
It sucks that if you don't want to be pushed around on a daily basis, you need to acquire some skills first, but that's the way it is. That's why kids go to school, where they learn how to read, write and do basic arithmetic. It's a lot to learn, but they don't complain "Huh, what's all that for, it's so complicated! It's too much for me!" They learn it, because if they don't, they'll be f*cked over until the very last day of their adult lives. They won't be able to function in society, because society will not go "Hey, they chose not to go to elementary school and can't read and therefore can't feed themselves, so let's give them some food, shelter etc." Society requires that knowledge as the bare minimum, because the cost of not requiring it cannot be justified. It can be justified for those with learning difficulties, but not for the cognitively unimpaired majority.
It's time to make people realize the same applies to Bitcoin skills, however techie those appear to be. No one is going to adjust and say "Hey, if you can't pay me with sats, you can give me some fiat shitcoins instead and I'll swap them for sats."
Reading, writing and basic arithmetic are your bootloader, which you need to start the OS and then you can go to university to download advanced apps into your consciousness - chemistry, computer science, medicine, law, etc.
We can include Bitcoin skills in the next version of the bootloader, or we can say understanding Bitcoin is less important than reading, writing and arithmetic, and deal with the consequences of a large fraction of the population living under fiat slavery.
This is not to say it should be part of the coercive state education apparatus, but rather of what people consider the bare minimum needed to be a functioning member of society, and undertake a self-study of, because they know if they don't, they'll be screwed.
Personally, it's the drive of truth-seeking that really fueled me to learn, I spent about nine months here doing lots of digging and testing, from a noob to a more advanced user, but there is still so much to learn, and that is a GOOD thing.!
The learning curve is a barrier
I think the real barrier is how much people want to know the truth, or how much they really want freedom.
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You spoke my heart out. I'm complete beginner and started with shitcoins since there was no one to tell me it's bad. Still I'm learning new terms in this ecosystem almost daily - LN nodes, layer 3, watchhouse, signing, cashu etc. There's a lot to catch up, while I struggle alone broke 😭
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Your not alone, Stacker is a great community, and @darthcoin has some great guides! I'm pretty broke too :)
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Yes, darthcoin has written really a lot about people like me. I've bookmarked his links.
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Good post - we're all with you on this.
Reminded me of Beautyon's quote:
"Computer illiteracy and economic ignorance are the toxic cocktail that makes it impossible to understand Bitcoin."
But, there's more than this.
So many new people hearing the message not to keep many sats on a hot wallet and the seeing that the price of a cold wallet is as much as they were planning to experiment with.
Unless people think out of the box and go the DIY route (USB or cheap metal seed with a watch only wallet), they could be stuck in techno paralysis.
For me it's great when people like @anita step in. Pretty much very country on every continent needs such trusted ambassadors.
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Fantastic quote from Beautyon which is so true.
I think, if people are open to learning Bitcoin, the best way would be in the form of a Bitcoin beginners workshop. There you can show and teach them what Bitcoin is, in a simple and very visual way to understand complex topic more easily and where they can send some sats and learn it firsthand.
This way that person is not depending on themselves to read the right stuff, if they read it at all.
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Great quote indeed!
I think Andreas Antonopoulos is one of those better suited to explain the technical aspects of Bitcoin to beginners.
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I meant local Bitcoin workshops. I'm currently working on a Bitcoin workshop for beginners, which is a real challenge btw, but so much fun doing it. I'm learning so much more about Bitcoin by creating it, because I have to go down the rabbit hole a lot, to understand concepts I don't get.
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Yes, teaching is one of the best way to learn. Good luck!
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Thank you :-)
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I let go of the desire to orange pill anyone long time ago ( But i'm still trying to sneak Bitcoin in ajyconversation if possible )
In my opinion, self-discovery >>>> force-pilling.
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I agree, I don't want to be pushy either, but I also like to plant seeds.
Learning Bitcoin is only optional in the same way that learning to read and write is. The sooner people start, the better. Much technical stuff is not as hard as they think, they just have this resistance in their heads, because they identify themselves as non-techies.
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