75 Facts That Are Blunt, Useless, And Kind Of Mean

Learning that your favorite childhood movie had a tragic production history or that a household item is secretly filthy can feel like a direct atack on your peace of mind. But science says that there are several psychological, social, and physical benefits of actively seeking out real-world knowledge — even the harsh truths.

First of all, some of these “fun-ruining” facts might actually save your life. We get so much of our information from social media, movies and TV shows, that it’s hard to separate fact from fiction sometimes.

For example, if you try to knock someone out with a tranquilizer or an object to the head (like they do in movies), you will likely cause permanent brain damage, put them in a coma, or worse.

Knowing this truth ruins the movie magic, but it also stops people from doing things that are incredibly dangerous.

There is also a real payoff to just being a curious person.

A 2024 study published in the journal Neurology found that lifelong learning, such as reading, playing games, or picking up new skills, keeps your brain sharp as you get older.

The study showed that people who constantly challenged their minds delayed Alzheimer’s symptoms by an average of five years. Even when their brains showed physical signs of the disease, their minds still worked well because they had built up a strong mental backup system.

“There seems to be a societal expectation that adults are not supposed to be learning as much as children are… What if adulthood is one very long summer slide, similar to what students experience during summer break?” says Rachel Wu, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside.

New facts can make for great dinner conversation, as long as you’re not afraid to bum your friends out a little. That’s a nice bonus on its own. But research shows it does more than that — it can actually reduce depression.

A study published in Health Economics found that an extra year of education led to an 11.3% lower likelihood of reporting depression symptoms, and a 9.8% lower likelihood of reporting anxiety symptoms.

These mental health benefits were even stronger among women and rural residents.

Learning facts from around the world also changes how you treat other people. When you read about the lived experiences of others, it builds empathy and expands your worldview.

According to research, the more you know about the history, struggles, and daily lives of other people, the better your brain becomes at understanding them.

By actively looking for new facts and perspectives, you are basically training your brain to be more compassionate.

Whether it was ancient storytellers, encyclopedia editors, Wikipedia contributors, or anonymous Reddit users, we all have the same instinct. We like knowing about things that make us wonder. We like passing them on.

And for some reason, we really, really like the weird and strange ones.

There’s actual research behind why this happens.

Studies show that curiosity comes from a gap in what we know. When we come across something that doesn’t quite make sense, our brain wants to fill in the missing piece. It’s strongest when we understand just enough to realize there’s more to learn, but not enough to fully explain it.

Strange facts give us just a slice of information which is enough to catch our attention, but not enough to feel complete. So we naturally want to know more.

Studies show that when people are curious, they actually remember information better. They not only absorb the info they were curious about in the first place, but they retain unrelated details they learn at the same time.

We actually spend a huge chunk of our lives doing exactly this.

We’re constantly feeding that need to know more, whether it’s through watching news or videos, reading articles, or going down internet rabbit holes.

Curiosity is also linked to how we make decisions, because this is what pushes both humans and animals to find different ways to figure things out.