Happiness Quote by Doug Larson

Doug Larson, the Midwestern newspaper columnist known for tart, humane one-liners, points to a paradox of modern life: knowing too much can harm as surely as knowing too little. Total information brings the illusion of mastery but often produces paralysis, anxiety, and a loss of proportion. Blissful unawareness, meanwhile, is comfortable but risky; it outsources judgment to others and leaves civic responsibilities unattended. Between these extremes lies a cultivated balance, the old Aristotelian golden mean updated for the attention economy.

The line predates social media yet reads as prophecy. The contemporary torrent of alerts, feeds, and headlines makes omniscience feel both mandatory and impossible. The brain, wired for threat detection, overemphasizes calamity; doomscrolling amplifies fear and robs agency. At the same time, retreating into ignorance severs the feedback loop by which citizens correct institutions and protect the vulnerable. A healthy public sphere depends on people who know enough to care and enough to act without being consumed by helplessness.

Finding the happy medium starts with purpose. Information is not neutral; it is a tool. What do you need to know to live well, to serve others, to do your work with integrity? Depth beats breadth when the goal is understanding rather than novelty. Attending to local realities often yields more agency and less despair than tracking every distant crisis. Curiosity stays, but it is paced; silence and rest are not derelictions but part of responsible attention.

There is also humility in the message. No one can be totally informed, and some uncertainties will remain. Wisdom lies in calibrating intake to capacity and conscience, recognizing the difference between signal and noise, and accepting that selective ignorance can be virtuous when it protects clarity and care. The happy medium is not a fixed point but a practice: staying awake without burning out, engaged without being devoured.