By now, you probably know what Reddit is, let alone r/mildlyinteresting. It has over 22 million members and is ranked #23 on the entire platform. At least as of this listicle.

Even the subreddit’s description was fourth-wall breaking and kinda like “ah, screw it, it’s in the name.” That’s how universally recognized the subreddit has become.

It’s a bit hard to explain what mildly means in the context of interest. You’d think you’re either interested in something or you’re not. Sure, you can be on the fence about it, or you can be in a situation where you want to like something. And that makes loads of sense. This is where you start to think about how much of your time and energy you’d want to allocate to whatever you’re mildly interested in. But how much is mildly?

The concept of interest (not the financial thing) can be seen as a feeling of wanting to know or learn more about stuff. It can also be explained as a quality that attracts people for the same reason. This ultimately boils down to a joint definition that is used to describe an activity—one that draws people into taking part in it. Yeah, that doesn’t sound like anything that would by nature be scaled to a certain degree. It either is, or isn’t interesting.

But weirdly enough, technology and the internet combined with human nature kinda explains that in and of itself: something is interesting enough to stop by while scrolling on the phone, but not necessarily interesting enough to click, comment on, upvote or act on it in any other way. And because everyone has different likes and interests in life, it’s hence a different reaction for each person.

What is more certain is the idea of self-interest. Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith talked at length about the concept. The focal point of his definition of self-interest is that every person is by nature first and foremost concerned with himself. It is a certain kind of hardwiring that we as individuals forming communities, societies, and an entire race can’t help but obey.

He goes on to say that self-interest is what motivates people to pursue goals. The first of which are basic bodily human needs, like eating and staying healthy. According to Smith, this should not be confused with wants and desires—sure, everyone wants a Ferrari, and it might be within someone’s self-interest to get one, but it’s not key to your survival, and that’s Smith's take on it.

But you can’t really ignore wants and desires, right? Sure, there is the idea that putting yourself through some suffering builds character. But if it’s taken to an extreme, it can be destructive, causing distress, anxiety, and it won’t solve the problem. Instead, it has to be a balancing act, and allowing yourself to have interests and hobbies, even to a mild degree, will have a positive impact on you, i.e. less stress and a better mood.

And this now circles around to self-interest again. Whether something is a mild interest or a deep one, it’s still good to have these positive experiences about things that you genuinely like. Being interested in things is not only good for us mentally, but it is a certain kind of reward—like picking up a phone, just for a little bit, after grinding through an hour or two of work.

So, given all of this, how much is mildly in mildly interesting? Well, by the looks of things, it's a point between being motivated enough to stop scrolling to see what's up, but not enough to stop us from scrolling on and likely forgetting about it.

So, yeah… food for thought! Thank you, that was my TedTalk.