Is it actually possible to stop caring about other people's lives and opinions?

A woman with numbers on her side actually makes sense! 🧐

Sure, it’s possible, but most people just don't have the stomach for it. They obsess over everyone else, meddling in lives they barely know, frantically posting every half-acquaintance on social media just to track their every move. It’s all for a cheap dopamine hit—a few likes or some forced comment—yet when they actually run into these people in person, they'll awkwardly look away or force through some pathetic small talk.

I’ve never been a slave to that nonsense. I’ve actually declined friend requests from people I went to school with because, honestly, what am I supposed to do with the information? If some girl I haven't spoken three words to since high school gets married or starts a family, who cares? It has zero impact on my life. Period.

That kind of behavior is for small minds. You should be focusing on yourself and your own path. Instead of wasting precious time gossiping and stalking strangers online, I’d much rather invest that energy into personal growth—taking a class, hitting the gym, getting outdoors, or actually spending quality time with people who matter. I won't tire myself out with stupidity. Even with my own family—especially when my mom gets caught up in a bit of venting about someone (she isn't a gossip by nature, but she can get carried away)—I make it clear: I don't care about other people's business, and I'm certainly not letting it weigh me down.👍

Honestly, I don't think that’s even possible. In my book, acting like you’re totally self-sufficient is basically just an extreme version of being a contrarian—you know, that whole "Wow, look at me, I'm so independent, I don't care what anyone thinks, I'm purely self-centered" vibe. Usually, that kind of attitude is just a mask for fear or maybe just having some really rough experiences with people in the past.
A person like that definitely has the potential to get somewhere in life, no doubt about it. But man, it’s tough to actually measure how much they’ve achieved or what their true capacity is. Like, think about it—some genius living today might end up looking like a total amateur compared to the average person a few centuries from now, just because society keeps moving forward.

So, even though we have our own personal wins and milestones, our sense of satisfaction with them is still tied to how everyone else is doing. It’s just part of being human—that whole idea of relative positioning. It works in theory and in practice. For example, if you have a specific talent that literally nobody else on Earth has, you're way more valuable to the world than if ten other people have it. Or a million. The more people who can do it, the more its value drops.
Or take a super basic situation: say you and a handful of friends put money into a startup, and the whole thing goes south. It’s obviously going to sting a little less if everyone lost their shirt along with you, rather than it just happening to you alone.
Of course, you shouldn't go to the other extreme either, where you're constantly measuring yourself against everyone else and seeing everything through a lens of comparison. And then again, it all comes down to whose opinion you're listening to, right? Is it a close friend, an acquaintance, or just some random person on Twitter?

At the end of the day, a person could theoretically live in this sweet spot where they're balanced—depending on others just enough without becoming dependent, learning lessons from others' lives without being controlled by them, and being solid enough that other people's opinions don't crush them. But there's a huge gap between what we want and what's actually real. It would be just as nice if humans could fly, but... well, we can't fly, and we aren't ever going to.

Brenda Mendoza said:Lately, I’ve been hearing this trend where people claim they just don't care about anyone else's business—that they're strictly focused on their own lane and that other people's opinions simply don't register. You see all these self-help gurus and psychologists preaching that if you want a fulfilling life, you have to stop peering into everyone else's affairs and tune out the noise of public opinion. But honestly, how realistic is that actually? It feels impossible. Everywhere you turn, you're confronted with someone else's choices, and whether you realize it or not, your brain starts processing that data and analyzing it automatically. It's the same deal with criticism; how can we truly be immune to what others think? Is this level of detachment even achievable, or is it just some psychological utopia designed to sell books?

The thread title is supposed to be about interests, but here we are talking about social inertia and how we interact with the world.
If you spend all your energy worrying about everyone else, you're going to lose sight of who you actually are.

Immanuel Kant once said:
It would be just as wonderful if man could fly. But he does not fly, nor will he ever fly.

What do you think, Jelda? ☕