To think that sometimes, knowing too much only ends up hurting you?

[MyAmusedOpalCrab]

There’s this idea that you should always dig, ask questions, uncover the truth - whether it’s in relationships, family, work or even about yourself. But honestly, sometimes I think, the more you find out, the harder it becomes to stay at peace. Is there wisdom in accepting what you see at face value sometimes or is that just wilful ignorance?

AIBU to think that too much information can hurt more than it helps?

In my opinion knowledge isn't always power.

I say this as someone who has to know everything, even when I know I won't like the answer, I still have to ask, or find something out.

I would love to be one of those people who live in ignorant bliss.

If my other half had a fling I would not want to know the details

Oh yes, for sure. We are human beings not robots, we have emotions and we have our limits, we can’t cope with too much. Knowing our limits could be called ‘wilful ignorance’ but in this world of information overload I think it is wise to draw your own boundaries.

I love animals. I give to animal charities. Do I want to know the horrific details of animal abuse committed around the world - no I do not. I cannot cope with that knowledge, it would upset me too much.

There is a woman who I work with who doesn’t like me. Do I want to know what her problem is? No, not really. I have other things that need attention in my life. I don’t have bandwidth for everything.

I choose to trust the people I love and have in my life, so I've never felt the need to dig or play Poirot. I go through life assuming there's nothing to dig for. If that makes me wilfully ignorant I'm ok with that. I'd rather assume the best of people than ferret around looking for the worst.

Do you have any specific examples in your own words op? I’ll wait…

You’ll be waiting a long time! It’s another bot with word salad nonsense with no substance.

These types of bots do reply, but it’s all a load of nothingness.

I've never been convinced by this idea. Putting it bluntly I think you need to be very discerning about how much of other people's crap you are prepared to take on.

Meh i never dig but mostly because if said person- family/friends etc wanted me to know they would tell me, plus i don’t like to nose around in other peoples business just stirs up drama i don’t want nor need, im very much a live n let live person, and it doesn’t bother me if people have secrets 🤷🏻‍♀️ xx

It’s on a need to know basis, surely? When you’re wanting information on something, ask yourself whether you need to know it for the current and future. Dating somebody whose life story doesn’t seem to add up and wanting to probe into it because it doesn’t make sense and something is obviously not quite right – yes, that’s a good idea, you need to know whether they’re hiding a long term stint in prison for train robbery, or a secret family in Chelmsford. Probing your partner about revealing their complete and entire sexual history prior to the point they met you and then getting upset because one of their exes had nicer boobs than you, or they enjoyed more sex – no, that’s a crap idea, you don’t need to know it, and you aren’t going to like the answers. Involving yourself in other people’s problems and drama and digging around in it - no, also a bad idea, you don’t need to know about it.

Digging into yourself, if you’re struggling with where you are in life or with your emotions – always worth doing. That’s how you achieve emotional literacy: knowing why you respond to some things as you do, or why you’ve made the choices you have, making peace with them, and establishing how you change the things which aren’t working for you to live more successfully and in happiness.

Who gains anything by setting bots to do this? I don’t get why anyone would bother?

I presume it’s AI companies scraping for information. Pretty sure MN said they were ok with it a while ago - but can’t remember the full conversation.

I’m a mod on 5+million user sub, I can spot it a mile off now. It’s like whack a mole for us! It just kills organic conversation, which platforms such as Mumsnet are all about. It’s sad.

Maybe we should deliberately post weird and wrong answers.

Nope. I am the type who wants to know everything so I can make up my own mind thanks.

Do I have genes that will make me prone to cancer, alzheimers etc, yes I want to know. I like to plan. I am a realist and would rather know if I can rather than be an ostrich. Why take the agency away from your life?

This one annoys me as it's almost making anyone who wants to know if their partner is cheating feel they are weird or silly.

I find this weirdly misogynist which clearly says more about me than the bot. Silly little women, worrying about details...

OP dumped and ran then?

They sometimes do once they’ve been ‘outed’. It’s hard to predict but I try and call it out early on, in the hopes that people won’t waste their time! I’ll probably end up getting banned soon

It’s creepy. So they post random questions so that they can add the answers to their data trove? I suppose they have already scraped the whole mumsnet archive?