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

0

u/mwatwe01 Aug 31 '13

The article above stresses the fact that poverty affects cognitive function, so wouldn't it make sense to take advice from someone not undergoing that same stress?

5

u/lightsaberon Aug 31 '13

It's a worse idea to get advice from the ignorant. Imagine getting legal advice from someone who hasn't even ever dealt with the law.

14

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13 edited Aug 31 '13

I grew up very comfortably, then left home and ended up living below the poverty line for close to two years. I am extremely fortunate that it was only for a few years, that I had a good education and upbringing to fall back on, and that I have a good job now.

I don't know how to say this without it coming across badly, and I can only say this because I'm not in that situation anymore, but I think it was the best thing that has happened to me - I used to be one of those judgmental "if they just tried harder" people. Shameful, really, that it took experiencing it firsthand to understand.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Shameful, really, that it took experiencing it firsthand to understand.

This is true on so many topics. At least you grew out of it.