2 ms·

"I'm 35, I have half a million dollars and I feel like shit because I don't go to parties anymore" "I'm 40 something I am a millionaire I bicker with my wife o

"I'm 35, I have half a million dollars and I feel like shit because I don't go to parties anymore" "I'm 40 something I am a millionaire I bicker with my wife over the next thing we will add to our high tech house so I feel like shit" "I am a solo founder who got burned out and lost all meaning" "I'm a deeply conflicted person who believes it is good to help people but I can't bring myself to do it, why oh why?" Is HN slowly turning into some sort of psychological outlet for troubled men?

nathanaldensr 5y ago
I wouldn't say slowly. I feel like these types of posts only became common starting several months ago. I haven't run numbers, but I feel like the number of "Ask HN" posts has dramatically increased in the past couple of months. Maybe @dang can provide some insight. That said, people need to learn introspection. All these questions are answerable if you sit down and think about things for awhile. Life is not mysterious; it's often boring and repetitive. Life is not supposed to be one dopamine hit after the next. Accept this, and a lot of the drudgery makes sense.
cultofmetatron 5y ago
lot of people get through life without ever realizing we're all running on a hedonic treadmill. There's good times and bad times wherever you are in life. Just appreciate that you're alive because as long as thats true, the story continues.
BoumTAC 5y ago
I think a lot of people here take 90% of their time and free time alone behind a computer. After +15 years alone like that it take a toll on their mental health. And after such a long time they are really far behind in social skill and they understand that doing a todo app with every new javascript framework is for most of people not the meaning of life and they don't know where to start.
- hotpotamus 5y ago
  Hey, sometimes I talk to customers too, so it's like I'm with others behind a computer. On a serious note, the pandemic really exacerbates this.
phendrenad2 5y ago
Maybe someone is running a social experiment on us.
digitalsushi 5y ago
Perhaps HN has an unusually high number of people experiencing the same thing - forced work-from-home, induced isolation, and 24 months of compounding effects from a pandemic. I'd love to holodeck this and see if a few months of beers, patio lunches, and watercooler coffees pushed the numbers back to 'normal'
- freedom2099 5y ago
  You mean the joy of working from home and complete isolation?
sackerhews 5y ago
You're the one mentioning men. Those are real issues, made particularly worse due to covid. They also make it to the front page so they ought to resonate with the crowd.
anyfactor 5y ago
As a "vent-er" myself writing things to a group of strangers seems healthy. It is like a prolonged and much needed hug without the other person awkwardly patting on your back to signalling you to end the hug. People are honest here. Sure there is a delusional ambiance of success here but in the deep nests of the comment jungle you find solace that some one has your desired traits has gone through the same shit. You can't find a place where people are honest yet direct with you without the burning bridges. I personally wouldn't want to be in any place where you don't see the frustrations of people in the same page where people discuss their interest. Twitter and Linkedin is vent free and I find them to be hypocratic.
jstx1 5y ago
In the few hours since you posted this we have a person who makes about a million a year asking for career advice - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30237425 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30237425

nathanaldensr 5y ago

I wouldn't say slowly. I feel like these types of posts only became common starting several months ago. I haven't run numbers, but I feel like the number of "Ask HN" posts has dramatically increased in the past couple of months. Maybe @dang can provide some insight. That said, people need to learn introspection. All these questions are answerable if you sit down and think about things for awhile. Life is not mysterious; it's often boring and repetitive. Life is not supposed to be one dopamine hit after the next. Accept this, and a lot of the drudgery makes sense.

cultofmetatron 5y ago

lot of people get through life without ever realizing we're all running on a hedonic treadmill. There's good times and bad times wherever you are in life. Just appreciate that you're alive because as long as thats true, the story continues.

BoumTAC 5y ago

I think a lot of people here take 90% of their time and free time alone behind a computer. After +15 years alone like that it take a toll on their mental health. And after such a long time they are really far behind in social skill and they understand that doing a todo app with every new javascript framework is for most of people not the meaning of life and they don't know where to start.

hotpotamus 5y ago
Hey, sometimes I talk to customers too, so it's like I'm with others behind a computer. On a serious note, the pandemic really exacerbates this.

phendrenad2 5y ago

Maybe someone is running a social experiment on us.

digitalsushi 5y ago

Perhaps HN has an unusually high number of people experiencing the same thing - forced work-from-home, induced isolation, and 24 months of compounding effects from a pandemic. I'd love to holodeck this and see if a few months of beers, patio lunches, and watercooler coffees pushed the numbers back to 'normal'

freedom2099 5y ago
You mean the joy of working from home and complete isolation?

sackerhews 5y ago

You're the one mentioning men. Those are real issues, made particularly worse due to covid. They also make it to the front page so they ought to resonate with the crowd.

anyfactor 5y ago

As a "vent-er" myself writing things to a group of strangers seems healthy. It is like a prolonged and much needed hug without the other person awkwardly patting on your back to signalling you to end the hug. People are honest here. Sure there is a delusional ambiance of success here but in the deep nests of the comment jungle you find solace that some one has your desired traits has gone through the same shit. You can't find a place where people are honest yet direct with you without the burning bridges. I personally wouldn't want to be in any place where you don't see the frustrations of people in the same page where people discuss their interest. Twitter and Linkedin is vent free and I find them to be hypocratic.

jstx1 5y ago

In the few hours since you posted this we have a person who makes about a million a year asking for career advice - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30237425 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30237425