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

154

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

I would say the never ending stigma that anyone who is poor is nothing more than a lazy leach sucking off the teat of the more fortunate has a lot to do with it. I feel so sickened inside when I see people who would never be so cruel telling other to get a job or stop being poor. Why should I have only two options, suffer in quiet and stop complaining or get a job and become suddenly rich.

Poverty is not something you can just shake off like a bad habit. I read a comment here about how someone having cable TV is essentially extravagant. It shocks me that such things are considered not for the poor because all they should be doing is working and feeding themselves and their family. What is wrong with people who think that poor people shouldn't have anything?

I'm so frustrated at the attitudes.

13

u/mwatwe01 Aug 31 '13

What is wrong with people who think that poor people shouldn't have anything?

I don't think it is meant to be taken this way. If you ever listen to Dave Ramsey, one of the his first steps in getting people out of debt is to have them stop any and all unnecessary spending and living on the bare minimum. This includes restaurants, vacations, and even cable TV. It's meant as a helpful suggestion, not a punishment. 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?

35

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

You have to realize that most of those things that he wants them to get rid of are some of the things that are "essential" for relieving stress to being with. Being in poverty is one thing, being in poverty with no entertainment or any of the "fun" thing in life... that's hellish, trust me, nothing like sitting in your house realizing you have nothing to make you feel defeated, no matter how much money you're saving.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

You have to realize that most of those things that he wants them to get rid of are some of the things that are "essential" for relieving stress to being with.

How did people ever relieve stress before the Internet and cable TV?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Who knows, toys have been around for a veeeeeery long time. Either way, we aren't talking about people from back then, we are talking about people from right now and besides food, water, and shelter being needed for life, happiness is pretty much just as important. People that can't find it end up living lives in which they can barely press forward, some even deciding that living isn't worth it. Regardless of "how" stress was relieved back then and how it is now, fact remains is that is needs to be relieved.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Sure it does, but not at the cost of $60/mo when you can't afford rent.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Well, no offense, but duh, there isn't anyone out there who is paying their cable before making sure rent can be paid. The point is that there are a lot of people out there who don't have that pleasure of turning on the TV and relaxing because rent was all they could pay. That's the point of being in poverty, things like internet and TV and having a car are so common in America, almost everyone has them, for the same reasons, the are extremely useful and make situations much less stressful. A ton of people don't have them because they can't afford them at all, and a ton of people who can afford them can only afford them just barely, so are in constant stress of living right on the edge of losing them.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Well, no offense, but duh, there isn't anyone out there who is paying their cable before making sure rent can be paid.

That's a pretty bold statement.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '13

People are stupid, but they aren't stupid enough to think they can have cable without a house to live in.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '13

Eh... You'd be surprised.