First start investing with a Vanguard/Fidelity/Schwab S&P 500 or Total Stock Market index fund (or ETF equivalent). Stick with that until you have at least $10,000 in the fund.
Then while you are building that, "invest" on paper by pretending to buy $2,000 each in a variety of stocks, actively managed mutual funds and $2K in your 500 fund. Then keep track of these equities including news items, quarterly/annual reports and conference calls and dividends.
By doing this, you will learn investing terms and how much time you actually have to track investments. You will also learn your risk tolerance (as in a tendency to want to sell when the equity dives or buy more when soaring). You will also find out if your picks do better than just the boring S&P 500 fund. Until they do on a consistent basis, just stick with index funds.
You may also want to listen to various finance related podcasts like Paul Merriman, Bogelheads On Investing, Investing Insights, Mad Money with Jim Cramer, etc. To learn terms and increase your knowledge. But still, no matter what you hear is a great deal, do not invest any further until you have that 10K.
I have had one of my stocks for more than 40 years and a few I bought last month. I usually only buy 1-2 times a year. But I am in the process of going through my holdings and selling/buying ETFs (except ths that are currently beating the S&P 500 average). This is for tax efficiency and simplicity. As you get older, you need to structure things not only for heirs but in case you need to have someone handling your finances for a while. So the simpler, the better. I will have my equities structured so I draw down my traditional IRA first followed by my taxable portfolio and then my Roth. I am looking at the Paul Merriman strategies with the most volatile ETFs in the Roth.