| ▲ | darth_avocado 7 hours ago |
| Im not smart (maybe average), but a lot of my unhappiness starts from just having access to information. And then more I process the information, the more unhappy I become. Smarter people than me probably have more information and are able to process it faster, uncovering effects that are not readily perceived by normal folks like myself. |
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| ▲ | boznz 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| I stopped viewing all news media companies five years ago. Real news will get to you pretty quickly by other means such as HN which I still frequent a couple of hours a week. Modern news is re-hashing even the trivial in the worst possible way and inviting the extreme idiots on both sides to fight it out in the comment section, I can honestly say I am missing nothing and still find myself informed and happier. |
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| ▲ | paulpauper 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | It is hard to abstain from news completely. The mainstream media is becoming increasingly like social media, feeding on shared sentiment and vague feelings of outrage. | | |
| ▲ | HDBaseT 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | If you watch the news, you'd think the sky is falling. TOOL - Vicarious "Eye on the TV, 'cause tragedy thrills me Whatever flavor it happens to be like Killed by the husband, drowned by the ocean Shot by his own son, she used the poison in his tea Then kissed him goodbye, that's my kind of story It's no fun 'til someone dies Don't look at me like I am a monster Frown out your one face, but with the other Stare like a junkie into the TV Stare like a zombie while the mother holds her child Watches him die, hands to the sky, crying "Why, oh, why?" 'Cause I need to watch things die From a distance Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies" | |
| ▲ | OroPla 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Maybe it's like a drug? I never read/watched news in my entire life and find it pretty easy. It's impossible to completely shield yourself from getting the news at all, which is a bit unfortunate. I feel I would lead a happier life if I didn't get to know who the president of the USA was, for example. It's completely meaningless knowledge anyway. But for some reason most people are really interested and will tell you, even if you never ask. | |
| ▲ | irjustin 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Yes but very possible. I also did it during the latest once the latest election was decided. Removed all news sites but also stopped looking at facebook, news on youtube, and the biggest one was reddit. Reddit really affected me. It was so easy to read -> become angry -> engage. I choose to be less informed to save my mental health, I know I'm way happier. | |
| ▲ | irishcoffee 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | It really isn’t. I haven’t watched the news on tv in probably 20 years, I haven’t had any social media accounts ever, and at this point I use the internet as part of my day job, to do my job. It is absolutely amazing to be so disconnected and I encourage everyone to try it. People at work tell me about interesting things happening in the world, and my role and my spouses role at her job have the (mis) fortune of keeping me informed about the goings on in the wider world. But there is no spin. | | |
| ▲ | basscomm 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > It really isn’t. I haven’t watched the news on tv in probably 20 years It's frequently beneficial to know what's happening in the world around you, even though possessing a sense of empathy can make knowing what's happening in the world around you unpleasant. | |
| ▲ | paulpauper 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Just visiting this site means you're inundated with a lot of news about AI or tech companies, and politics pertaining to those matters. It's hard to remove politics from issues. I think only the most niche of communities avoid politics completely. |
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| ▲ | ex-aws-dude 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Same, I've learned if something is important enough I'll hear about it anyway | | |
| ▲ | mypalmike 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | The news is virtually never important enough. And my definition of “important enough” is “actionable”. There’s a pervasive idea, mostly among more educated people, that keeping up with political news is civic minded and responsible. I’m not sure if I’m just cynical or small minded but I just don’t see the point. Getting a daily blast of topics to worry about that I have no control over doesn’t seem like a good use of this life journey. |
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| ▲ | ColdStream 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I think a part of happiness is just knowing that you cannot win the game of life. Even if you could process a thousand times more information, would that make you any happier? If anything, your craving for information would only increase. It's not the processing that is the problem but the craving. That said, ignorance is bliss but the consequences are dyer. There is a nice middle ground. |
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| ▲ | Quarrelsome 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| pretty sure if you're commenting on here then you're way above average. It's not a compliment, its just that you're misunderstanding how low the bar is. |
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| ▲ | HDBaseT 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | That seems like some gatekeeping egoistical hi-ground. I refuse to believe the average person here is any more intelligent than the average person on the street. | |
| ▲ | willismichael 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | > It's not a compliment Thanks, you had me feeling all smug and then you had to add that part. |
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| ▲ | inglor_cz 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| While my intelligence is ~ constant, my levels of happiness fluctuated during my life and now, at 48, I am maybe twice as happy as I was at 24. There is definitely an upward trend with me... During the same period, I also absorbed a lot of information, including some ghastly one. And yet my overall feeling of well-being improved. IDK what happened, I can at best describe it as if "someone slowly changed the lens I am using to view the world for a less cloudy one". Maybe some sort of hormonal development. It seems to be outside my will, though. Just happened. |
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| ▲ | bsuvc 6 hours ago | parent [-] | | I think what you're describing is wisdom, as described in the Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." | | |
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