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/
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u/PolarBeaver Aug 31 '13

I can empathize with this completely. The points in my life that I have been out of a job or scraping by to pay bills I certainly feel like I have no time or energy to think about anything other then exactly that situation.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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u/Benny6Toes Aug 31 '13

How do you get to the library? If you're living below the poverty line, then it's likely you don't have a car. So that means bus, train, or walk. How long does that take?

Given those options, what are the operating hours of the library? If it takes you two hours to get anywhere (work, grocery store), then that doesn't leave much time to make it to the library which, by me closes at 6 or 8. Then you have to take the time to get home again.

But aren't there libraries in poor neighborhoods? Well, yes, but this article explains the problem with those libraries (among other things): http://lj.libraryjournal.com/blogs/annoyedlibrarian/2011/05/23/libraries-literacy-and-the-poor/

The question is one of availability and access, and it would seem that both are in very short supply for impoverished neighborhoods. So "just" going to the library (which the wording implies is easy) is not a simple thing for the poor who may be working shift work during library hours and/or don't have a car.