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Vanity activities

(quarter--mile.com)
74 points surprisetalk | 1 comments | 01 Dec 25 18:57 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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danilafe ◴[07 Dec 25 18:58 UTC] No.46184090[source]▶
It doesn't have to be one or the other. Both ethical consumption and going vegetarian reduce one's environmental impact, and they're independent of one another. So, while someone "truly" optimizing for environmental impact would better spend their time avoiding meat, someone who enjoys meat can still reduce their environmental impact without becoming miserable. Variables like "income" and "environment" are just parts of the equation for the more important heuristic of happiness.

A lot of the activities on that list are like this. Reading the news has a non-zero impact (hey, I'm on HN, and it definitely helps me keep up to date), and it's "easy" in that it fits into my heuristic for happiness. Same with using a metal straw, and same with picking between credit cards.

In a sense, these activities are "free" in terms of their perceived difficulty, but have a positive, if small, impact. If they're "free", why not do them?

replies(2): >>46185988 #>>46186563 #
fastball ◴[07 Dec 25 23:38 UTC] No.46186563[source]▶
They're not free because they consume your time, which is valuable.
replies(1): >>46186613 #
danilafe ◴[07 Dec 25 23:46 UTC] No.46186613[source]▶
Yes, but only if you would spend that time on something that is more valuable (according to your happiness+ heuristic).
replies(1): >>46186626 #
1. fastball ◴[07 Dec 25 23:48 UTC] No.46186626{3}[source]▶
Right, but I think that was the author's point: many of these activities are seen by their participants as "productive", rather than just "this makes me happy". That was a specific point of the post.