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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 unhap

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.

inglor_cz 29d ago
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.
- bsuvc 29d ago
  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."
  - inglor_cz 29d ago
    Oh, that would be nice! Thank you.
boznz 29d ago
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.
- paulpauper 29d ago
  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.
  - irjustin 29d ago
    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 29d ago
    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.
    - paulpauper 29d ago
      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.
      - inigyou 29d ago
        The most niche of communities are flooded with their own internal politics. The less important the community, the more toxic the politics.
    - basscomm 29d ago
Quarrelsome 29d ago
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.
- willismichael 29d ago
  > It's not a compliment Thanks, you had me feeling all smug and then you had to add that part.
  - Quarrelsome 29d ago
    Aw, sorry. I just wanted to sound sincere. Like you're underestimating yourself or well er.... others. Idk I'm sure you're smart. Stupid people think they're _really_ smart, imho being smart is mostly associated with having some level of self-doubt.
- HDBaseT 29d ago
  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.
  - xpct 29d ago
    I don't think it's egoistical. I understand it's often uncomfortable to compare people by their intelligence, but by many measures of 'smart', people here have it, more often than not.
    - kdjdiwjdiej 29d ago
      Nah, people here often have knowledge in varied but very niche subjects, but because this is the place for niche subjects, you can always find a handful of people knowledgeable on any given subject. Plus, it’s fairly common to see people saying the most amazingly simple things but with big words, fancy terms, heavy phrasing and all that just to sound that little bit smarter. None of that tells me people here are more intelligent than the average Joe walking by living their life. Just that people here flock on posts with subjects they enjoy or know a bit about. It’s very easy to sound intelligent, all you have to do is leave people confused with a bit of theatre and misdirection (oh, and a dash of arrogance!). True intelligence, though, is owning what you don’t know. True intelligence is not trying to make everyone around you feel dumber so you can be the clever clogs.
ColdStream 29d ago
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.
ifwinterco 29d ago
Humans simply didn't evolve to be connected to a constant firehose of random information. I firmly believe that even the smartest person will become an idiot if they just scroll X all day
- duskdozer 29d ago
  Well, yeah, that's Musk's propaganda outlet. That's not synonymous with "news" though.
  - kdjdiwjdiej 29d ago
    Potato, potahto. X is the same as Instagram, that’s the same as reddit, that’s the same as HN. The difference is in what flavour of propaganda are you most interest in and what type of bullshit are you willing to swallow. Let’s not pretend X is bad because of Musk alone. HN can be just as terrible too.
    - darth_avocado 29d ago
      > Let’s not pretend X is bad because of Musk alone. HN can be just as terrible too. I am yet to see racial slurs, hateful speech, scams, porn (consensual and non consensual) or any of the endless things that are okay on X but not on HN. So no, HN can not and will not be just as terrible. The two platforms aren’t even close in terms of the health of the discourse.

inglor_cz 29d ago

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.

bsuvc 29d ago
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."
- inglor_cz 29d ago
  Oh, that would be nice! Thank you.

boznz 29d ago

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.

paulpauper 29d ago
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.
- irjustin 29d ago
  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 29d ago
  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.
  - paulpauper 29d ago
    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.
    - inigyou 29d ago
      The most niche of communities are flooded with their own internal politics. The less important the community, the more toxic the politics.
  - basscomm 29d ago

Quarrelsome 29d ago

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.

willismichael 29d ago
> It's not a compliment Thanks, you had me feeling all smug and then you had to add that part.
- Quarrelsome 29d ago
  Aw, sorry. I just wanted to sound sincere. Like you're underestimating yourself or well er.... others. Idk I'm sure you're smart. Stupid people think they're _really_ smart, imho being smart is mostly associated with having some level of self-doubt.
HDBaseT 29d ago
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.
- xpct 29d ago
  I don't think it's egoistical. I understand it's often uncomfortable to compare people by their intelligence, but by many measures of 'smart', people here have it, more often than not.
  - kdjdiwjdiej 29d ago
    Nah, people here often have knowledge in varied but very niche subjects, but because this is the place for niche subjects, you can always find a handful of people knowledgeable on any given subject. Plus, it’s fairly common to see people saying the most amazingly simple things but with big words, fancy terms, heavy phrasing and all that just to sound that little bit smarter. None of that tells me people here are more intelligent than the average Joe walking by living their life. Just that people here flock on posts with subjects they enjoy or know a bit about. It’s very easy to sound intelligent, all you have to do is leave people confused with a bit of theatre and misdirection (oh, and a dash of arrogance!). True intelligence, though, is owning what you don’t know. True intelligence is not trying to make everyone around you feel dumber so you can be the clever clogs.

ColdStream 29d ago

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.

ifwinterco 29d ago

Humans simply didn't evolve to be connected to a constant firehose of random information. I firmly believe that even the smartest person will become an idiot if they just scroll X all day

duskdozer 29d ago
Well, yeah, that's Musk's propaganda outlet. That's not synonymous with "news" though.
- kdjdiwjdiej 29d ago
  Potato, potahto. X is the same as Instagram, that’s the same as reddit, that’s the same as HN. The difference is in what flavour of propaganda are you most interest in and what type of bullshit are you willing to swallow. Let’s not pretend X is bad because of Musk alone. HN can be just as terrible too.
  - darth_avocado 29d ago
    > Let’s not pretend X is bad because of Musk alone. HN can be just as terrible too. I am yet to see racial slurs, hateful speech, scams, porn (consensual and non consensual) or any of the endless things that are okay on X but not on HN. So no, HN can not and will not be just as terrible. The two platforms aren’t even close in terms of the health of the discourse.