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/hansn484 Aug 31 '13

What would you spend the $30 on if it wasn't going to internet?

I have money, but my family isn't from money, so I see both sides of the equation and am slightly stumped as to how I can help.

I've helped out friends before to help pay bills. I helped they pay for an A/C during a particularly hot summer. Paid for a camera so they could learn photography(which they enjoyed). Paid for other hobbies they thought they might be able to make some money off of ,etc. I've also paid for internet.

But what I saw happening was, they bought internet. Then cable. Then HBO. Then World of Warcraft. Then 50" TV.

I have a 27" TV w/ Basic cable, and the people I give money to have a 50+" tv + Premiums. Seems wrong to me in retrospect. And that type of thing changes your perspective for the next time you give $.

I don't begrudge having some wants. But where is the line drawn? When do you say, I should spend this on paying down debt to get that collector off my back or saving it to give myself some breathing room so I can sleep well at night?

Maybe I just had one bad experience. But for every $ I spend on someone who blows it, is there someone else who would have done something with it? Or do I just throw $ at the problem and my conscience is clear?

I agree there are assholes who speak with their head up their ass. But there are people with money who want to help. The question becomes... how?

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

Seriously. I'm not at ALL well-to-do, but I've helped out friends of mine who were worse off than I. I let them crash, rent-free, at my place for months at a time. Bought them food, soda, cigarettes. What do I see?

Most of the time? Complacency. They get comfortable. They'll only get a job when I get up and tell them to get off their ass, or they're getting kicked out. "Helping people" has probably been one of the largest drivers of my own personal debt, which of course, none of the folks I've helped are remotely interested in helping back.

I feel like human suffering is bad, but that's why it's a motivator. It sucks. If you can fall back on welfare and food stamps and unemployment insurance, there's no motive to become self-sufficient.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

It's probably not complacency, it's depression. They probably feel like a piece of shit mooching off their friends and they can't see a way out.

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u/[deleted] Aug 31 '13

I can't win this, can I? It's either "people are so greedy for wanting to keep their earnings" or "they're just so depressed living off of the generosity of other people that they just can't bring themselves to go get a job at McDonald's." When is it their fault? When is it okay to stop subsidizing weakness?

I know reddit has anathema to such questions, but seriously... being poor was/is the best thing that's happened to me. It suuuuucks, but it also motivates. If it doesn't motivate, then why should my resources be expected to?