Re:Ask HN: Depressed HN
by jacques_chester on Sunday August 11, 2013 @08:21PM
(#6196994)
Like you, my suspicion is that more intelligent people spend more time introspecting and are more open to seeking out information about mental health. Hence they'd be overrepresented in the statistics.
Only way to find out is if someone designs a survey. HN itself has builtin support for polls, doesn't it? Even a simple "Are you depressed?" yes/no with tallies of the answers would be very interesting. I'm sure that enough of HN readers would partake in the survey so that the result becomes statistically significant.
Consider the possibility that this conclusion results from a sampling error. Hackers may not experience depression at rates different than the general population. Your observation may depend on the fact that hackers are willing to post about this issue anonymously, where if they had to identify themselves, they wouldn't express the same ideas.
Also, because of their technical knowledge, hackers are more likely to access and use online discussion forums, which may make them seem to have a higher depression rate than people less able and willing to make posts in social media.
So maybe this is a non-issue.