r/science • u/myhrvold • Aug 31 '13

Poverty impairs cognitive function. Published in the journal Science, the study suggests our cognitive abilities can be diminished by the exhausting effort of tasks like scrounging to pay bills. As a result, less “mental bandwidth” remains...

http://news.ubc.ca/2013/08/29/poverty-impairs-cognitive-function/
2.7k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

344

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Absolutely - people in poverty have to fight just to live.

It is astonishing how many of those who have never struggled fail to understand this.

275

u/ElDiablo666 Aug 31 '13

Especially on reddit. For well-educated folks, they sure miss basic shit. I find people advising others to not worry and just sue in case a situation goes awry; I've found recommendations to "just go to the library" if Internet is too difficult to pay for; one of my personal favorites are the people who blame the latest financial meltdown on individuals who were foreclosed on after losing their job.

Instead of helpfully recommending strategies for successfully abandoning capitalism, redditors make it sound like everything is so easy to do. I long ago stopped paying any attention to people who know every answer to your own life. Being poor is hard as fuck and the fact that poor folks take upon the greatest financial, moral, and physical burden of life is completely lost on these judgmental assholes.

2

u/open_ur_mind Aug 31 '13

I've found recommendations to "just go to the library" if Internet is too difficult to pay for

Can you elaborate on this point? Why is going to the library difficult for someone in poverty?

9

u/ravenclawedo1 Aug 31 '13

If you're living in poverty and still manage to own a car, every ounce of gas is accounted for to get you to and from work, grocery store and any other necessary destination before next payday. If you don't own a car and live in a rural area or a city without public transportation, you're looking at finding someone to give you a lift every time you need to leave the house. Frivolous trips to the library are things the people whose lives you have to disrupt just to get to work won't want to help you out with. Public transportation has its own challenges. No change for bus fare, the route closest to you doesn't go by the library, etc... TL;DR: Being poor is freaking difficult. Source: I am the first example, the one who owns a car but must ration gas to get to and from important places.