What is it about today’s society that makes acting foolishly acceptable? Where have our personal morals gone? Why has belief in karma faded? Why is doing the right thing so challenging for so many? When will we, as a society, recognize that our most valuable asset is the human brain’s ability to apply common sense? Seriously, what happened to common sense?
In a world designed to be fair, just, and technologically advanced, we’re missing one of the most fundamental human abilities: thinking and acting with common sense.
As parents, we dedicate much of our time to teaching children common sense. Don’t climb the bookcase—it might fall and hurt you. Don’t hit your sister—it’s unkind, and you’ll face consequences. Removing the lid from your sippy cup will spill your drink. Poking your eye with a fork at dinner will cause pain. Talking while the teacher speaks will get you in trouble.
The lessons we impart to children about life’s values are endless, with instilling common sense being the most critical. Yet, judging by recent headlines and the general behavior of society as a whole, many adults seem to have lost this skill. Life becomes about living in the moment, ignoring consequences or responsibilities to others and ourselves. People live precariously, jumping from one fleeting moment to the next.
The Cost of Ignoring Common Sense
Should companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s be forced to label hot chocolate and coffee with warnings that the contents are hot? Must crib and stroller manufacturers spend billions explaining basic safety to parents to protect their businesses? Isn’t it common sense to know these things? Does a court really need to rule that actions like those of Sandusky were morally wrong? Are movie ratings responsible for deciding what’s appropriate for children, or should parents make those choices?
Look inside your car, and you’ll find at least one or two permanent labels warning about airbag dangers and stating that the safest place for an infant is the backseat. Do clothing manufacturers really need to label garments with fire-retardant warnings?
The endless array of warnings highlights society’s failure to use common sense. Courts waste millions on frivolous lawsuits and disputes driven by individuals who neglect common sense and then blame others for their ignorance.
A New York Times article recently described a group suing fast-food chains for causing obesity. Whatever happened to personal choice and accountability? Were these individuals force-fed Big Macs, apple pies, Whoppers, and Cokes? Consider toothpaste containers with warnings not to eat the product. Is that truly necessary? In a society guided by common sense, people would know that eating toothpaste is harmful.
A Psychology Today case study suggests that as intelligence increases, people tend to remain in a novelty-seeking, adolescent state, lacking what’s known as “civilities” or common sense. Higher IQs may correlate with this deficiency. Perhaps our technological advancements have made us so “smart” that we’ve lost the ability to function in a society that relies on common sense. Yet, the idea that overthinking simple aspects of life causes this loss feels hard to accept.
The absence of common sense comes down to selfishness and ego. Many prioritize being right or “winning” at all costs, even when there’s nothing at stake, losing touch with basic human reasoning.
If this trend continues, the burden placed on others to compensate for this lack of common sense may lead people to stop thinking for themselves entirely. What then?
Instead of college exit exams or standardized tests, perhaps success should be measured by one’s ability to function independently in a world simpler than we realize. Imagine a society curious about who could pass a “common sense test” and who could not.
16 Responses
I like that you touched on personal responsibility. I’ve personally complained about that myself in the past 5 yrs. or more. The other issue is parents that want to be friends with thier kids and not parents. They think it is the schools roll to teach kids everything there is to know in life. The other subset is parents that are almost cometely disengaged in their childrens life due to substance abuse. When the parents are incapable of discerning right from wrong, how can they adequately instill the difference in thier own child. That brings me to my final point, that legal and illegal have replaced right and wrong in the minds of far too many these days. If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. “But its perfectly legal!” . The justice system here in the US was originally set up to provide legal recourse for those who believe they have been wronged. Now it has become a revenue stream for large and small communities alike, with zero resemblance to its original intent. These days it seems everyone wants to get away with whatever they can. Great article on a subject that needs to be addressed sooner than later.
I completely agree. Sometimes I look around and think what is happening? Is everybody stupid or just ignorant? This article is spot on. We are becoming a society of useful idiots for the politicians and law makers. We have allowed our children to be brainwashed and indoctrinated into believing that they can not think for themselves. That they have to go along to get along. It’s maddening to me how easily it happened.
Dear Mr. Daniel: I am an author presently working on a non-fiction book title “Why Are We hear.” It is an examination of what brought America to this point in time. One section of the book deal with “common sense.” I would like to reprint your article if you would grant permission. My email address is below. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Robert J. Emery
Vaccines don’t work 95 per cent vaccinated are contacting omicon variant. Possible cause vaccines lower the immune system that’s why the boosters. Someone lied.
This is exactly what this article is about. The lack of common sence. The facts about vaccines has changed as experts have studied covid and learned how it has mutated. Unless you have a degree in infectious disease you clearly are lacking the common sence required to make your statement.
Political correctness has replaced common sense. Bottom line.
Yes I believe trying to be politically correct is part of the reason for the loss of common sense. If we would only leave that alone and ask ourselves “does what I’m doing really make sense?”, we would be better off .
We need to get over the hot coffee at McDonald’s thing. The coffee was being kept at an unsafe temperature and she got severe burns all she wanted was an apology but they wouldn’t give it to her so she sued. She wasn’t stupid or lacking common sense.
Make a pot of coffee and pour it on yourself. Now, was that hot and did it burn you? Yes, of course it did. Seems like spilling coffee causing burns is pretty obvious. I mean, coffee is made by passing BOILING water over ground, roasted coffee beans. I think it is definitely common sense that boiling water burns you.
Yes, hot coffee will burn you. Which brings me to the point that in our culture today we do not allow our children to experience the the consequences of their actions or decisions. Now this may seem heartless or cruel, but I’m not suggesting anything extreme. At some point our children must begin making their own decisions as part of the maturing process. I believe, when those decisions result in trouble for them we are far to quick to rush in an fix things. We should let our children figure out how to solve the problems they’ve gotten in to( within reason). Let them sweat a little. We can still be supportive, but let them figure it out. I wager they will, and be wiser and more self assured for the experience.
Honesty, one of the lost arts. Lacking common sense is a sign that life skills are not being taught to the young. School and collages are to busy push their idea of what society should be. I was taught that you integrity was the most important thing that you can have and don’t compromise it for anything or anyone.
Living in a young people world where the lack following society rules that govern behavior is I guess no longer a thing it is okay to throw things at others when you don’t get what you think you are entitled to. There is no shortage of book smart people however they are perplexed when faced with filling their car with gas and not even the picture instructions will help them yet they can tell all the atoms that make up the gas they.cant.use.it.
SPELLING is atrocious in the article and in the comments!
“Common sense” is the product of Cause and Effect thinking! Learn to do that and you will be amazed at the outcome.
Good lord no matter how you slice it the comments above show just how uneducated this country has become—no basic sense of grammar at all…
A lot of the loss of common sense is due to the computerization of our lives. Software engineers strive to make their particular program (or part of a larger program) “bullet proof”. Meaning that the program will never break. However, in SW engineering there is a warning: “You can never make a program ‘foolproof’ because fools are so ingenious”. But that Holy Grail of engineering remains as an ultimate goal. The result is that you, as a user, must turn off your common sense and simply follow the rules precisely or you will experience failure. The failure never being the engineer’s fault, but yours because, for a microsecond, you thought on your own. As prevalent as the computer, and it’s attendant “micro processing”, is in all the things that we use all day everyday, we have been slowly, almost imperceptibly, taught, indoctrinated, not to use our common sense.