r/selfeducation

The hardest part about self-help books is actually remembering what you read.

Only a week later I can barely remember anything from it
I have bought books on communication, business, psychology, parenting, or self-improvement, but they just sit on shelf because they feel too long to get through.

I wanted to learn from these books, but I kept running into the same problems:
• They were so long and dense that reading started feeling like a chore.
• Even after finishing them, I forgot most of the ideas before I could actually use them.
So I and my Psychology professor build an experiment named BookBii
Instead of making you read long, information-heavy chapters, BookBii turns books into engaging stories with real-life applications, making them easier to understand, remember, and apply.

If that sounds interesting, the app is in my bio. It’s free for the first 1,000 users.

I’d genuinely love to hear what you think.

Everyone is familiar with gamified productivity & focus tracker tools. I downloaded most, experimented with different methods, studied the science behind motivation/goals, and developed a new system. It's not complex, visual, yet lightweight. Most importantly, it's effective & helps you make real progress.

Why this method works:

• It simplifies thinking about "what should I do today" & helps beat procrastination. You clearly see your goal, and the main work/play activities you defined. Just get started on one...
• Each board is you custom "go-to" plan for that Goal (aka "Core"). You pick "time contributions" that work for you. No guilt tripping. If you like to focus for 30m, and then lounge for 1h, then that's what you pick. No need to overcommit. Stats will improve as you get better.
• Tracking how much Up vs Down time, towards defined Goals, is the simplest measure of success, over time. The 10,000 hour rule exists for a reason. Not 10,000 to-do items.
• Seeing "break/rest" activity timers next to your productive timers, at a glance, makes you more relaxed during focus sessions & gives you "guilt free" breaks. You can pause one timer and start another, then come back. You can also "finish early" any timer, and deposit time already earned, no penalties.
• You can adjust all Timers/Goals on the fly, change their length, emoji labels, etc. The app makes it easy.
• You can track a Goal on 1 board, or across multiple boards. You could have a board for each day of the week if you want, all towards that 1 goal. On Monday you can have only 1 focus activity, and on Saturday you can have 6, with different focus + break sessions.
• You can work on Goals and contribute time whenever you have it. No pressure with streaks. If you have 1 hour per day for a goal, or 3 hours per week. You simply time your activity, you bank time Up or Down, and you move on.
• You progress easily visualized in a cool Sci-Fi interface, with time particles and orbits and black holes.

Check out Flowton on the App Store or if you're on Android, sign up on flowton.com to get notified.

Happy to hear your feedback on the method, or if you try the app, on what you think of it. There are cool new features in the pipeline, along with leaderboards, passive "multiplayer", and other.

I’m testing a small physics learning prototype and wanted feedback from people who actually study physics.

Right now it’s a pendulum simulation. You can change gravity, mass, friction, damping, and time scale, and there’s an insights panel showing energy, velocity, acceleration, force, and momentum.

I’m trying to understand whether this kind of interaction helps build intuition, or whether it becomes unnecessary once you already know the equations.

Would this be useful for learning pendulum motion?

What information should be visible, and what should be hidden?

Would live numbers help, or would visual cues like trails and force arrows matter more?

No product link or app name. Just looking for honest feedback.

I’m working on a learning prototype and wanted honest opinions from people who self-study.

The idea is that instead of only getting a text answer or watching a normal video, a tutor explains out loud while drawing on a live canvas step by step.

The examples here are about cell division and surface tension, but I’m more interested in the general learning style than these specific topics.

It is not meant to be a polished animation or a pre-made diagram. The point is that the drawing happens while the explanation is happening, so the learner can follow the idea as it builds.

I’m trying to figure out a few things:

Would this actually help you understand concepts better than normal text or video?

What subjects would this be useful for? Math, biology, physics, chemistry, coding, philosophy, history, or something else?

What would make it genuinely helpful instead of just visually interesting?

What would annoy you about this kind of learning tool?

When you are confused, would you want it to redraw things differently, ask you questions, slow down, or give another example?

I’m asking because I don’t want to build based only on my own assumptions. Brutally honest feedback would help a lot.

Tired of AI tools that answer your question with a 500-word paragraph that somehow says nothing?

I made LemonSugar Ai: snap a photo of your homework, ask what you don’t get, and it explains it like a friend who actually wants you to pass. Then save it, quiz yourself, or ask for another angle.

Looking for honest feedback from students. What’s the one thing that always makes study apps lose you?

Link: https://lemonsugar.ai

Hi everyone,

I'm a 15-year-old freshman currently writing a research paper about how the internet, storytelling, and digital media influence learning and personal development.

A lot of people talk about the negative side of the internet, but I'm interested in understanding the positive side as well. I'm curious whether online platforms, books, shows, movies, games, YouTube creators, or online communities have ever taught people something meaningful that they didn't learn in a traditional classroom.

I am conducting primary research to see where people get their information and how media changes their thinking. The survey is 100% anonymous, has only 5 quick questions, and takes less than a minute to complete.

What's something valuable you've learned from the internet, a story, or an online creator? It could be a life lesson, skill, philosophy, psychology concept, historical topic, career advice, or anything else.

I would really appreciate your help getting some data so I can finish my paper!

Link to the survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1TtdRIEa4jumfVfXhlfA4AsTncjVUvdp-JBcnHIJWK0CDKQ/viewform?usp=header

Thank you so much!