This is sort of a random topic, but I've been looking at various online communities and was struck by how pessimistic and negative many are. I perceived this most notably on reddit, but some other places are like this too-- there seems to be a general aura of discontent, an attitude that society in general is corrupt, and so on. Does anyone know why?
For evolutionary reasons, for most people it's easier to trigger a negative emotion than a positive one. So, regardless of their situation, the average person is suffering much of the time, and is either resigned or angry about it.
Questions like "What does it benefit anything if I am miserable about suffering?" are meaningless to the average person. Emotions are reality.
Unlike real life middle-class Western culture, the reddit community doesn't give any particular status credit for being upbeat, so the usual motivation for not acting negative all the time is gone.
Hello all,
This is sort of a random topic, but I've been looking at various online communities and was struck by how pessimistic and negative many are. I perceived this most notably on reddit, but some other places are like this too-- there seems to be a general aura of discontent, an attitude that society in general is corrupt, and so on. Does anyone know why?