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Learned Helplessness (Within The Indieweb Scene)

To start, let's first understand what "Learned Helplessness" even means! Taken straight from the google dictionary definition:

a condition in which a person has a sense of powerlessness, arising from a traumatic event or persistent failure to succeed. It is thought to be one of the underlying causes of depression.

Understand? Good, good. That's a really strong definition though, isn't it? Especially since it regards mental health issues... However, despite my own malleable definition in regards to the indieweb scene, I feel like it's a good idea to at least understand this definition of the term first before moving forward.

As for how I use the term "learned helplessness" in regards to the indieweb scene, it's something a little more adaptable and easy to swallow. Something a little more like this:

when online users are unwilling or otherwise seemingly unable to craft their own websites with their own two hands. instead, they rely on others to work out all of the answers for them, resulting in a website that is less their own and more of a community effort.

As you can see, I'm really only borrowing the term "learned helplessness" to apply it to the indieweb scene (how many times can I say indieweb throughout this entry, let's count!). Typically, I'm referring to this generalized sense of helpless behaviour from (usually) younger users within this space, and how they not only seem to be unable to answer their own questions, but tend to make it everyone else's issue at the same time.

I would like to state before you read any further that asking for help is absolutely okay! While I find learned helplessness to be upsetting at best and annoying at worst, asking for help is 100% okay, and even encouraged! But I do think that there's a difference between both ends of the spectrum, which I'd like to elaborate upon here.

Talking exclusively about the indieweb space, when asking for help in my experience, it comes with the expectation of the asker having had at least a cursory glance at attempting to solve the issue by themselves, right? A quick google search, perhaps even several google searches and implementations to their own code before they feel as though they've tried as much as they can, or exhausted as much as they know, before seeking help elsewhere. I personally have always enjoyed trying to solve my own problems for a good hour or so alone, sometimes a couple, before reaching the extent of my knowledge and seeking help from someone who knows more than me. I think that this is important to an extent, something about getting your hands dirty and your mind working by yourself so that you're able to make connections easier in the future if you ever encounter the same/a similar problem to the one you're trying to solve.

But, this has not been my experience when interacting with others within the indieweb space. Instead, what usually happens is something like...

All of these issues, for the most part, can be solved with a simple google search. And even if we understand that new website owners may not know about "CTRL+SHIFT+R" or similar strategies, do a simple google search and literally the first page of searches will hold the answer that they're looking for. And failing that, the spaces that they ask these kind of questions in usually have a cheat sheet that hand-feeds them this information too. But instead of doing that research themselves, they immediately default to relying on others to answer the question for them. Even going so far as to decline the option of learning themselves in favour of having others do the work for them. And to an extent, I view it as exploitative.

On one hand, I find the topic incredibly sad and disheartening. I want other users, especially younger members, to want to learn. I wish that they found it easier to know how to google, and how to use the tools available to them for their own benefit. Because it's almost as if they don't know how to even do that, right? Like there's this deep disconnect within them, as if they simply don't like being curious enough to research for themselves, or perhaps more upsettingly, that they don't know how to go about doing that. I think for some people, this is the case. But I'm also not stupid, I know that for other people it comes down to a sheer and utter lack of willpower, a complete sense of laziness; It's just easier if other people make the content for my website instead, right?

But on the other hand, I find it almost annoying. Having to day in, day out, elaborate upon the same talking points that can be easily solved by a simple google search. It's frustrating having to repeat myself, despite the amount of empathy I have for new website owners. The annoyance is, in part, why I like to post tutorials for everyone to use for free! Even free graphics and templates, because I feel so passionately about owning your own slice of the net, I truly don't mind helping others in this way! But if the learned helplessness gets in the way of users even seeking out that free help in the first place, then what are we all to do? I don't like the idea of having to answer: "Why is my website not updating :(?" with "CTRL+SHIFT+R." ad nauseam. And I know that many of my friends are exhausted from the repeated conversations too— always willing to help, but sometimes I just feel like screaming "GOOGLE IT!!!!!!!!!!!" y'know? Like it's not difficult, and I think it should always be your first step towards solving your own problems in this space. Plenty of people have asked the exact same generic question as you've currently got, so try solving it yourself first. I promise that more knowledgeable users will be more willing and happier to help you if you approach them with: "I tried to work this issue out myself, but I'm a little bit stuck... Could you give me some pointers?" Instead of defaulting to others putting in the work and effort for you.

Because at the end of the day, the indieweb space is one of the most helpful, friendliest, most kind spaces I've ever existed in. Besides the typical trolls every now and then, everyone is so willing to share and help. And as per my own manifesto words, I absolutely adore getting to help others bring their website dreams to life! The issue lies within the sheer reliance on others to answer the same repeated question every other day, and to build up half of your website for you. It's exhausting, and it's unfair on the person helping you to assume that they'd be happy to answer such easily google-able answers for you. I mean, I always prefer offering the chance to learn specific practices, such as graphics making and template codes to help people get off of the ground with a kickstart, but at some point you have to get comfortable with learning and researching for yourself. Once you're able to do that, asking for help is much more appreciated. Because no longer will you be asking about the basics of HTML, and instead you'll have learnt how to do all of that by yourself! I actually highly encourage learning these fundamental basics before even attempting to build a website anyway, so I feel as though these learned helplessness questions are so... Redundant? As in, you should know the answers to these kind of questions by now.

That should be the goal of any website owner, I think. To understand the basics enough to be able to build your site without much input. Reaching out for help after extensive research yourself, and still offering an involved hand in finding the solution.

But still, asking for help is okay. I hope this entry hasn't made you feel otherwise, and if it did, it's probably because you suffer from some learned helplessness. The good news is: You can unlearn these behaviours easily. Just try googling a little bit more! Try letting others know that you've tried to work out the solution yourself, but you could use some tips/hints to get to the conclusion yourself! And, if all else fails, simply seeing that you've tried to work out a sufficient answer is enough alone to have someone create a solution for you instead.

That's all for now, thank you for reading! I wonder how others may view this topic, and if you'd like further clarification, you can always email me from my website!

Stay safe, and please continue learning! It's a lot of fun!

(psst, I counted 8 usages of the word: indieweb)