361–370 of 486 posts
I’ve noticed the same thing about the news. When I don’t follow the news I am happier and less anxious. Yet, it doesn’t feel right to be ignorant of what is going on in the world. How does one balance their own happiness versus being informed? “Ignorance is bliss” is a saying for a reason I suppose.
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Yes, because if they made less money, it wouldn't help me at all (it could even hurt me because then they have nothing to share). In difficult personal situations, it has often helped me to know that at least others have it better.
> Yes, because if they made less money, it wouldn't help me at all Let's continue this thought experiment - say with a flick of my fingers I made everyone in the world have half the money they have now - but I leave you with the same amount. So you are basically 2X richer than you were before. You say this doesn't help you at all - I think it actually increases your chances of finding housing, finding a mate, getting…
And even then, the economy is not a zero-sum game. It is possible to become wealthier without making others poorer. If I get healthcare, it doesn't mean that someone else needs to be denied healthcare.
I’ve noticed the same thing about the news. When I don’t follow the news I am happier and less anxious. Yet, it doesn’t feel right to be ignorant of what is going on in the world. How does one balance their own happiness versus being informed? “Ignorance is bliss” is a saying for a reason I suppose.
In the midst of an election a weekly (bi-weekly? monthly?) summary article of what happened, and what is important is more than sufficient for me.
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I'd argue that it can include HN, but HN is not designed to be nearly as toxic, and actually goes out of the way to be "as not-toxic as possible without breaking the concept of what it's trying to be." I've spent a while thinking through "What makes social media evil?" - I've read a number of studies, I grew up with the first wave of what we might call "social media" (never used MySpace but was quite familiar with it…
> Humans are vulnerable to "metricification" quirks, and you see that with a lot of social medias too. HN only shows your up/down votes, and you can't see anything else. There's a demetrificator extension for it, though I would like the option to turn the metrics off in my profile. Where's this extension? That seems useful (I'm susceptible to "metricification" - quit reddit because of it. He said, knowing that mentio…
Consider the following scenario: You're pleased and content one minute, thinking your life is going fine the next. You have a few minutes to kill, so you log onto Facebook and begin scrolling... First, you notice a friend's post stating that she has accepted her ideal job. Then you read a coworker's too political rant. You continue browsing and see a video of your neighbour enjoying a fantastic tropical vacation. And…
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It's much worse than tobacco. At least tobacco only kills people when they're older, whereas social media robs young people of their mental health while simultaneously threatening truth and democracy
>while simultaneously threatening ... democracy This seems to be the latest topic from the outrage machine. Can you explain how social media is an actual threat to the democracy or democratic process to a reasonable person?
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> Yes, because if they made less money, it wouldn't help me at all Let's continue this thought experiment - say with a flick of my fingers I made everyone in the world have half the money they have now - but I leave you with the same amount. So you are basically 2X richer than you were before. You say this doesn't help you at all - I think it actually increases your chances of finding housing, finding a mate, getting…
Yeah, but you changed the thought experiment from neighbourhood to "everyone in the world". This obviously would have a much, much bigger impact on my relative wealth. And even then, the economy is not a zero-sum game. It is possible to become wealthier without making others poorer. If I get healthcare, it doesn't mean that someone else needs to be denied healthcare.
I agree to an extent. If say GDP increases it usually means the economy does better which means you will get better services (healthcare, housing, personal safety for you and your children etc) so you have an interest in others doing well. However you also have an interest in not doing worse than most since as I said the amount of resources you can get is relative to others (resources is anything from housing to healthcare to your ability to find a mate). I think this principal hasn't changed much since us being cavemen and neither have feelings of envy.
And again, there is not much evolutionary since in having no feelings of envy at all since it's a big motivator for people. Many times you feel envy or anxiety and you do something about it to improve your lot. Its there for a reason (sure, often it goes out of hand which is unfortunate). Consider yourself fortunate for not feeling much envy (or at all)!
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If other people find their ideal job, have a tropical vacation, etc. it makes me feel... good? Those are good things in general, although the tropical vacation might make me also feel concerned about the climate. The problems I have with social media are that - it steals a lot of time - a lot of content gets me by evoking negative emotion - it's taxing to get exposed to so many different ideas, clips, heated discussi…
> If other people find their ideal job, have a tropical vacation, etc. it makes me feel... good? This sounds like a misunderstanding. Being happy for friends (real friends not "500 Facebook friends" friends) is not mutually exclusive with these news invoking bad feelings inside you (shame, feeling of inadequacy etc.)
Also, I can't relate to feelings of shame or inadequacy because someone has something good happening to them. If anything, it motivates me to achieve the same.
I’ve noticed the same thing about the news. When I don’t follow the news I am happier and less anxious. Yet, it doesn’t feel right to be ignorant of what is going on in the world. How does one balance their own happiness versus being informed? “Ignorance is bliss” is a saying for a reason I suppose.
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You've never felt Envy towards someone? I kind of find that hard to believe. that was all OP was referring too and it's well documented. Honestly you come off as dishonest in this convo as it's quiet a normal emotion to feel and it's not negative per say, it can lead to negative actions but can also push people to do better. "It doesn't matter if the slight is real or not, its the perception of the person that matter…
I've never felt envy towards my friends and family. No, never. I find it bizarre that you do. I never said I don't feel envy. You jumped to conclusions based on a very little sentence I wrote. I currently have a very severe skin condition, and I live in a country with 'free' healthcare. I am envious that some people get medical treatment for it and can live a normal life again and some people do not (such as myself).…
Or maybe your brother and you have a crush on the same woman. He asks her out and they start dating. You aren't jealous.
Or just suppose you always wanted something at home, a hot tub, a big screen tv, a walk-in closet, a home office, whatever, and you find out your friend has the thing - you'd be envious right?
It seems like you're confusing being envious of someone as a negative feeling towards them, which is why you're getting caught up on the friends and family aspect. It shouldn't matter if it's friends and family - they are often the people you know the most about so you'll find out if they do/have something you want. If you let your envy turn to anger and contempt, that's the negative part, but you don't have to - that's just having a healthy perspective and self-control