How do you introduce Bitcoin to people without digital literacy?

[kryptqnick]

I think that explanation of a topic can be on various levels, and it should depend on how much people already know, how much they'd like to know, and for what purpose. If it's merely to know how it works, it's one thing; if they intend to buy and store some coins, explaining wallets, passphrases becomes a must. It's important to speak the language of the people you're talking to and dumb it down if necessary. Also, if people are way too far from it, it's not worth going into detail at all. For example, I have a grandmother who does not use the Internet or a smartphone (only one app where all she does is clicks on the 'call' button to call me). She has no idea how the Internet works, what are websites, apps, social media, browsers. So when I talk to her, I just say "on the Internet" whenever anything is online because for her more details don't matter and only make things difficult. And Bitcoin is "digital money", which you access using the Internet and a computer or a smartphone, that's it.
If people want to know more, you can give them more. But if a person has little understanding of digital world, then before getting to Bitcoin, you need to explain other things. I guess the op's case is not a case with near-zero digital literacy, but still.

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[coolcoinz]

All depends on the level of knowledge of these people. We'll have a different approach towards people who use Internet sporadically and those who don't use it at all.
Their age, background, drive and ability to learn new things have a huge impact on the way we'd teach them about bitcoin. You have to know if you're talking to a child, a teenager, a middle-aged person, or a senior and all cases will require a different approach. This is such a broad topic that one could write a book trying to answer it.

[adzino]

You don't have to explain them the stuffs about bitcoin. Just show them how bitcoin is used. Teach them how to create a wallet, how to send and receive bitcoin and how to keep their wallets/bitcoins safe. Tell them it's the same as sending/receiving money with Paypal. No need to tell them about the technical stuffs now since all it will do it confuse them and they will end up thinking bitcoin is very complicated. Once they start using bitcoin, I am sure they themselves will start learning more about it.

[darewaller]

People that you think have nothing on digital world right now, doesn't mean that they are idiots. Which means that if you teach them the basics of it small by small, they will understand what you are talking about if they care, so you need to make sure that they actually care about it.

Their regular job could be related to crafting, but that doesn't mean that they can't understand a lick of crypto or computer skills, they already learned a skill and making money from it, so understanding computers or how the bitcoin world works doesn't mean anything wrong. This is why I believe that we should be just working towards making them care, since if they care, they have the talent to understand it.

[Smartvirus]

~snipe~

The truth about cryptocurrency is, it grows on you. Your level of exposure matters. I knew almost nothing nothing I started crypto and it felt like a whole lot when I imagined how far it has got over the years and I was just starting but I understood one thing, you can never learn it all and understand at a goal.
Be sure to mentor them all the way, you keep repeating it to them starting with the very basics like, what is bitcoin, a little lesson on bitcoin, you give them a chance to be curious and find out what they could know, encourage them to pick interest in bitcoin related topics where ever they find them and be sure to explain to them some terminologies to the field and they would follow.

[Hypnosis00]

That actually gives them curiosity and interest if they clearly understand it but the problem is with their position. They don't have the tools and gadgets for them to try in an actual scenario which I think is the easiest way to teach these kinds of people. It can't just be done to education and giving books to read as it is only forgotten.

I really find it hard and our effort and time might just be wasted after all. If I were you, I'd just pick some of them, probably those young minds as I believe they are easy to understand.

[qwertyup23]

I personally think that this would pose a challenge to explain the basics and fundamentals of cryptocurrencies to someone who has no digital literacy, unless they are seriously keen about learning them.

I remember, I tried explaining BTC to people who first heard it but they soon lost interest during my explanation. You can actually see the that they are not interested and everything just sounded so technical to the point that I even lost myself in the process. But, there are ways in order to at least lessen the burden especially by using non-technical terms and using metaphors to make it bearable.

[n0nce]

~snip~

I agree with mocacinno. Especially since knowing all details of the technology is not required at all to introduce people into the concept of what Bitcoin is and how it can be useful to them.

Because that's what ultimately matters. What's the use of some super cool new (or not so new, but you get the gist) thing that I don't really need in my life?

These days, when speaking to absolute Bitcoin newbies, I try to gauge whether they've got any issues with the current system. And it turns out most do! Most people have experienced account closures, chargebacks, cards not accepted globally when travelling and high monthly fees.
If it turns out they do see issues with the money being centrally controlled, not internationally usable, with outrageous fees for international bank transfers and it losing value each and every year; then I can proceed to present them how Bitcoin is different in all of those aspects.

Technical questions are usually sparse and come last..

[Hamphser]

All depends on the level of knowledge of these people. We'll have a different approach towards people who use Internet sporadically and those who don't use it at all.
Their age, background, drive and ability to learn new things have a huge impact on the way we'd teach them about bitcoin. You have to know if you're talking to a child, a teenager, a middle-aged person, or a senior and all cases will require a different approach. This is such a broad topic that one could write a book trying to answer it.

You would really need to be that versatile and it would really be just common sense that you do need to adjust depends on whose the one you are facing with whether they do have digital literacy or not.

You would adjust and its up to your own way or method on how you would introduce bitcoin to other people and the most important thing is that you should stick with the basics.

Make it simple as you could on which they could easily to understand and gradually step up into further details but if they do end up on getting confused into something
then put some emphasis into that.

[TelolettOm]

It will be little bit difficult. But, doesn't mean that it is impossible.
As long as they have willing to learn about Bitcoin, we can start teaching Bitcoin with something very easy. First, maybe we need to explain online technology and Bitcoin from the common knowledge. For firstly, I suggest that you don't need to explain the technical about Bitcoin because they will be nonsense. They will probably feel so hard to accept the information. That is why you need to start from the easy information about what is Bitcoin, by telling them with very simple conversation or example.

[tadamichi]

And so have developed interest and had asked me to introduce to them what's it's all about and that they would want to get involved too, of which I was glad to see them show some interest but the challenge am having about the whole stuff is that they don't have digital literacy not even a foundation I can build on, as they are just these local craft skilled workers who have only but engaged almost all their life into their area of skill.

For days now, I have exhaustively given explanations to them about what the forum is all about and how it works. Even clearly establishing to them to the extent I know about Bitcoin currency and how the system operates but seems like I was speaking to them in a different language, one that's confusing entirely. And I currently don't know any means to use in explaining to them what I know.


For it's currently giving me a lot of concern!

Start with something non-technical that everyone can relate to. Tell them why you’re into Bitcoin and what it empowers you to do. And ask them questions too, see where they’re at mentally and see what specifically catches their interests. If they’re craftsmen they will understand some concepts like the value of work, building things that last and function properly, the importance of not relying on bureaucrats already, you can use analogies that are relatable to their craft and make it more understandable.

Everyone can relate to motivations and goals, Bitcoins could sound too good to be true for a beginner that doesn’t know how things work. This is where technical knowledge shines, when you can actually get some scepticism and counter arguments out of the way by knowing how and why things work.

Also just keep it fun and challenging, not everyone will get it directly and it’s fine. One step at a time, this is a complex interdisciplinary topic that goes against the status quo. 

[radjie]

actually many people are interested in learning about bitcoin or digital currencies, but most of them expect instant results so it's quite easy to give up when they can't achieve their desires.  it is undeniable that when ordinary people are involved in this industry they need real evidence to be able to make a profit, they are easily attracted because they are tempted by bitcoin which has a fairly high value, but can't wait to learn the process

[aysg76]

The first thing you need to tell such people is that since they already don't understand all other things they use on a daily basis (from their smart phones and all the apps on it to their credit cards and the complicated banking system) they also don't need to know the technical aspects of bitcoin.
Stick only to the basics, learning about bitcoin should be just like learning about how to work with a computer or a smart phone for the first time. You don't know what code is being executed on your device's CPU or how it is executed, so you also don't know what happens behind the scene when you click the "send" button in your bitcoin wallet or how mining works, etc.

For me also this is the same way of telling someone about bitcoin who is completely unaware about the technical aspects and how all the mechanism is designed in the backend.If you see bitcoin is mixture of technical things like private keys,SHA-256 algorithm and much more but who are ignorant to simple app working over the network connectivity will find it hard to understand if we introduce them directly with coding structures.

So first of all I ask them if they ever heard about the term bitcoin or cryptocurrencies and if so what do they understand from it? Some people I have met have assumed them to be physical coins like fiat only as they have heard it's new currency so you see they only need to know the basics about it in the first end.So the simple is tell them it's like digital money only not in physical format and you can transfer money through your wallets to anybody globally with basic understanding of how to send and receive money keeping their seeds phrases safe.

Then comes up resources that can help them like articles,books and some videos by Andreas could help them so once interested they will start gaining knowledge about it themselves and technical part will be understood to some extent if not completely and that will be enough for them to keep using it.

[lionheart78]

I am also one of those who are excited to share or introduce Bitcoin to my friends when I first know it.  But the problem is those who have digital literacy are quite uninterested and those who are interested are the ones who don't have a good foundation of technical stuff.  I found it tiring and at the same time annoying because I need to spoonfed them about everything.  So after I have done my part (taking responsibility since I am the one introducing Bitcoin to them), I avoided sharing anything about Bitcoin, if anyone asked me I just give them links to look at and tell them to study them if they are interested.


Anyway, we can always start with the usage of Bitcoin, we do not need to explain the whole details of the technical aspect of bitcoin.  just the basic stuff is ok.  They will learn the advanced course if they got interested and while they are using Bitcoin.

Video about the basics of Bitcoins
Brief explanation and usage of Bitcoins
A couple of videos about a wallet installation, and one good wallet is enough, too much information about Bitcoin wallet will confuse them. ( they will learn the variety of wallets as they use and transact with Bitcoin)
Video on the importance of saving wallet seed phrases and the importance of keeping the private key a secret.
Video on how to make Bitcoin transactions, receiving, and sending Bitcoins.
And places where they can spend Bitcoin.

Once they have a grasp of this stuff, they can move forward to learn the more advanced stuff regarding Bitcoin or Bitcoin economy.

[DanWalker]

Same with bitcoin: if your friends are interested in crypto, it's very possible they're interested in USING it, not in the technical background. In this case, i'd just explain them the difference between a custodial and non-custodial wallet, explain them they can never ever give away their recovery seed or private key, make sure they have a safe setup, explain to them that transactions are irreversible and they cannot invest money they're not willing to lose... And that's about it (i guess).

Great, these are all things that I also want to say to those who are new to bitcoin. There is no need to explain or give too many lessons to beginners, these are sufficient to get them started using bitcoin and once they have grasped these basics, if they want to go deeper into technical or investment then let them decide for themselves.

[Davidvictorson]

For it's currently giving me a lot of concern!

My rule of thumb whenever I'm trying teach someone something new irrespective of their educational qualifications or whether the person is an adult or a child is to use objects or materials which the person can easily relate to in giving instances or in explanation. I have always found it to be one of the most efficient and effective ways to pass knowledge.

The op mentioned that these friends are people with some sort of vocational skill. That's the good place to begin. Use objects, materials or resources that you may have to be relatable in teaching them.  And you do not need to dump it all on them in one day. You may decide to start with a story of how bitcoin started. Everyone loves a good story. Anyone can learn anything as long as the person is interested.

[2stout]

This can be very tough and frustrating.  However, I think the key would be to present things in terms of what they already have literacy in as this may be transferrable and able to help them connect the dots, resulting in a framework upon which they can build further knowledge confidently and independently if desired.

[virasisog]

This can be very tough and frustrating.  However, I think the key would be to present things in terms of what they already have literacy in as this may be transferrable and able to help them connect the dots, resulting in a framework upon which they can build further knowledge confidently and independently if desired.

If they really want to learn things about Bitcoin, then they should find ways on how to be fully equipped with digital literacy because, to be honest, your efforts will fall into nothing if they can't adopt the learnings due to a lack of knowledge about the latest technology. That's actually the reason why lots of people still got no idea about how Bitcoin works because they aren't knowledgeable about the digital world.

[uchegod-21]

When I am faced with the challenge of introducing someone to Bitcoin, I always ensure that first I try to understand the reason the person wants to be introduced to Bitcoin at that time.

• If the person have seen my success or success of someone who is into Bitcoin, and becomes interested in Bitcoin, I will know that the person have the get rich quick scheme mindset. I will first try to re-orient the person before discussing bitcoin with the person. And I will not go deep into the technicals because the person might not last long or even understand.
• If the person is doing well already and wants to be introduced to Bitcoin, I will know that the person wants where to invest his more, then I will teach the person the basics and technicals of bitcoin

[AakZaki]

It will be little bit difficult. But, doesn't mean that it is impossible.
As long as they have willing to learn about Bitcoin, we can start teaching Bitcoin with something very easy. First, maybe we need to explain online technology and Bitcoin from the common knowledge. For firstly, I suggest that you don't need to explain the technical about Bitcoin because they will be nonsense. They will probably feel so hard to accept the information. That is why you need to start from the easy information about what is Bitcoin, by telling them with very simple conversation or example.

it's easier we have to give real examples or illustrations of the use of bitcoin in everyday life, so that people can understand what bitcoin is and how it works.
With some of these simple methods, bitcoin knowledge will be easier to understand than providing technical knowledge about bitcoin. We as people who understand bitcoin really have to use a method that is good and easy to understand.

As in this thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5408842.0
he began to teach bitcoin to his neighbors using a small blackboard by explaining the important points of what bitcoin was.