[Goosey]

I feel similar to you. I wonder if being on HN is healthy for me. It exposes me to lots of new concepts and technologies, but only on a very superficial level since I am not diving into it... And it has a cost of feeding into an inferiority complex.

I have almost entirely started to avoid facebook for this reason. You always just see the bright side of everyone's lives, which can make you feel depressed if you are unsatisfied with your own. Likewise HN shows you the cutting edge tech, the cool startup scene, and a lot of writing from some very VERY smart people. If you don't feel like you measure up it can be an addictive way to reinforce that feeling.

Clearly I am competing with a deeper psychological issue and the ultimate solution is to accept myself, accept my limitations, and find peace. I am working toward this and making some progress. But I wonder if my progress is being hindered by such a flood of exposure of awesome like HN.

Many (most) thoughts I have had reading HN are clearly irrational. "I can't be happy unless I am founding a startup." "I can't be happy unless I am programming in language X." "I can't be happy unless I move to SV."

I recently severed a very close relationship because I finally accepted how toxic it was, even if that toxicity was largely due to my own loose boundaries. I wonder if my relationship with HN is the same thing.

tldr: HN exposes you to so much awesome that sometimes you feel like shit in comparison. You're not.