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Hacker News unfortunately seems to be more and more about depression/psychology and less and less about positive entrepreneurship and tech/programming. I want t

by colund 11y ago

Hacker News unfortunately seems to be more and more about depression/psychology and less and less about positive entrepreneurship and tech/programming. I want to be inspired.

cpncrunch 11y ago
I suspect that it might be because the people who are driven to be entrepreneurs also have a higher likelihood of suffering from depression.
- kvcc01 11y ago
  Yes. Unlike the parent, I welcome reading such stories. It keeps me cognizant of the risks of ignoring mental well-being. I think our professions (programming in particular) has more mischief potential because it makes it easy to drift into solitude while remaining productive. I can easily do my work locked up in a room with my computer sustained by Instacart without much human interaction, but therein lies sorrow. You couldn't work like that if you were a dentist or a plumber. I sometimes envy the forced social interactions of other professions.
  - a3n 11y ago
    I wonder if a life of programming, in particular, could mislead us to see big messy life as merely a stream of input, logical processing, and output.
- DanBC 11y ago
  Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged between 20-34, and 35 to 49, in the UK. Rates are similarly high in the US - in 2013 one person died by suicide every 12 minutes. I'm not sure that entrepreneurs have higher rates of depression or suicidality. I think that depression and suicide are just very very common.
davehimself 11y ago
Are you depressed?
a3n 11y ago
You could just not read the articles that aren't interesting to you. Wishing that all/more of the articles are within your interests is essentially wishing that all/more of the people within the community are more like you. But in a community, that's unlikely. Or, you could read some of the articles that aren't interesting to you, as they'll have ideas and problems that might be outside of your immediate experience and view. Who knows, they might directly or indirectly inspire some entrepreneurial idea that wouldn't have occurred to you otherwise. Keep your eyes and mind open, you never know what problems you might solve.
- colund 11y ago
  Infact I have read lots of psychology books over the years. However I have found that I feel worse if I think too much about how I am and behave. I prefer to think about what I like to do since that feels less depressing and I have since become a much happier person. I posted my comment in a hope to find others with a similar feeling/experience about self-help vs well-being as opposites.

by colund 11y ago

Hacker News unfortunately seems to be more and more about depression/psychology and less and less about positive entrepreneurship and tech/programming. I want to be inspired.

cpncrunch 11y ago

I suspect that it might be because the people who are driven to be entrepreneurs also have a higher likelihood of suffering from depression.

kvcc01 11y ago
Yes. Unlike the parent, I welcome reading such stories. It keeps me cognizant of the risks of ignoring mental well-being. I think our professions (programming in particular) has more mischief potential because it makes it easy to drift into solitude while remaining productive. I can easily do my work locked up in a room with my computer sustained by Instacart without much human interaction, but therein lies sorrow. You couldn't work like that if you were a dentist or a plumber. I sometimes envy the forced social interactions of other professions.
- a3n 11y ago
  I wonder if a life of programming, in particular, could mislead us to see big messy life as merely a stream of input, logical processing, and output.
DanBC 11y ago
Suicide is the biggest killer of men aged between 20-34, and 35 to 49, in the UK. Rates are similarly high in the US - in 2013 one person died by suicide every 12 minutes. I'm not sure that entrepreneurs have higher rates of depression or suicidality. I think that depression and suicide are just very very common.

davehimself 11y ago

Are you depressed?

a3n 11y ago

You could just not read the articles that aren't interesting to you. Wishing that all/more of the articles are within your interests is essentially wishing that all/more of the people within the community are more like you. But in a community, that's unlikely. Or, you could read some of the articles that aren't interesting to you, as they'll have ideas and problems that might be outside of your immediate experience and view. Who knows, they might directly or indirectly inspire some entrepreneurial idea that wouldn't have occurred to you otherwise. Keep your eyes and mind open, you never know what problems you might solve.

colund 11y ago
Infact I have read lots of psychology books over the years. However I have found that I feel worse if I think too much about how I am and behave. I prefer to think about what I like to do since that feels less depressing and I have since become a much happier person. I posted my comment in a hope to find others with a similar feeling/experience about self-help vs well-being as opposites.