Learning bit manipulation is highly beneficial in competitive programming because it offers a way to solve certain problems with minimal memory and processing time. Bitwise operations, like AND, OR, XOR, and shifts, allow for fast computations that can replace more complex arithmetic. This is particularly helpful in problems involving binary representations, such as subset generation, parity checks, and toggling bits for status changes. Bit manipulation also enables efficient encoding and decoding of data, which is essential in areas like cryptography, networking, and compression. Additionally, understanding bit manipulation can provide solutions for problems requiring modular arithmetic or optimization within fixed-size memory constraints. By mastering bitwise operations, programmers can tackle a subset of problems more effectively, leveraging these operations to achieve both speed and efficiency in competitive programming.