You’ve probably seen it. Maybe at a dinner party where someone is confidently explaining a complex geopolitical crisis based on a thirty-second TikTok clip, or perhaps in an office meeting where "data-driven" buzzwords are used to justify a decision that defies basic logic. It's everywhere. This phenomenon, often described as the chattering lack of common sense, isn't just about people being "uninformed." It’s noisier than that. It is the active, vocal substitution of shallow information for deep, intuitive understanding.
We live in an era of unprecedented access to data, yet we seem to be getting worse at applying it to real life. It’s like we’re drowning in "how-to" guides while forgetting how to actually do anything.
Common sense used to be the bedrock of social interaction—a shared set of obvious truths. Now? It feels like those truths have been shredded by a million digital papercuts. We chatter. We post. We "analyze." But the fundamental ability to look at a situation and say, "Wait, that doesn't make any sense," is disappearing.
The Death of "Wait and See"
The internet demands an immediate reaction. If you don't have an opinion within five minutes of a news break, you're invisible. This speed is the natural enemy of common sense. Common sense requires a beat of silence. It needs a moment for the brain to filter out the noise and check the "smell test."
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, in his seminal work Thinking, Fast and Slow, describes two systems of thought. System 1 is fast and intuitive; System 2 is slow and analytical. The chattering lack of common sense happens when we let a corrupted version of System 1 take over. We aren't using "gut instinct" built on experience; we’re using "gut instinct" built on curated feeds. It’s a simulation of intuition.
When you prioritize being first over being right, you lose the ability to be sensible. You see this in the way "expert" culture has shifted. Real expertise is often boring and full of caveats. Chattering, however, is exciting. It’s definitive. It’s also frequently wrong.
Why High IQ Doesn't Save You
There’s a common misconception that "common sense" is just a polite term for basic intelligence. It’s not. In fact, some of the most brilliant people—academics, tech founders, high-level executives—are the most susceptible to a total lack of practical judgment.
Take the collapse of certain Silicon Valley startups. These were companies staffed by Ivy League graduates and backed by billions in venture capital. On paper, they were flawless. But they ignored the "common sense" reality that their business models required more customers than existed on the planet, or that they were violating physical laws of logistics. They chattered about "disruption" and "synergy" while the ship was literally hitting the iceberg.
- Rationality and intelligence are different tracks.
- You can solve a complex differential equation but still get scammed by a basic "urgent" email from your "boss."
- Groupthink acts as a multiplier for nonsense.
If you’re in a room where everyone agrees that the sky is lime green because the "data" says so, your common sense becomes a social liability. Most people would rather be wrong with the group than right by themselves. That’s where the chattering comes from—it’s a defensive wall of words.
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The Algorithmic Erosion of Judgment
Let's talk about the phone in your pocket. It is a common-sense-killing machine. Not because it makes us "dumb," but because it removes the friction of life. Common sense is a muscle developed through trial and error, through making mistakes and fixing them.
When an algorithm tells you exactly what to buy, which route to drive, and what to think about the latest headline, that muscle atrophies. We’ve outsourced our judgment to software. This leads to what some researchers call "functional stupidity." It's when people who are otherwise capable of thinking critically simply choose not to because it's easier to follow the script.
Honestly, it’s kinda scary. We’ve reached a point where people will follow a GPS instruction into a lake or trust a generative AI’s "hallucination" over their own eyes. The chattering lack of common sense is the sound of us trying to justify that reliance on the script.
The Social Cost of Constant Noise
When common sense fails, trust follows it into the grave. If we can't agree on basic, sensible realities, we can't build anything together. This shows up in modern parenting, in workplace culture, and in how we treat our neighbors.
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Instead of looking at a situation and applying a human lens, we look for a "policy" or a "thread."
Consider the "Common Sense Study" conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. They found that while people think common sense is universal, it’s actually highly fragmented. But the real kicker? The more people talked—the more they "chattered"—the less they actually agreed on what was sensible. The noise obscures the signal. We are literally talking ourselves out of being practical.
Signs You’re Caught in the Chatter
- You find yourself explaining why a "glaringly obvious" problem is actually "nuanced" and "complex" when it really isn't.
- You check your phone to see how you should feel about a local event before you actually feel anything.
- You use jargon to describe things that your grandmother could explain in five words.
- You prioritize the "process" over the "result."
How to Get Your Common Sense Back
You can't just buy a "common sense" app. You have to earn it back through intentionality. It's about slowing down. It’s about being okay with saying, "I don't know enough to have an opinion on that yet."
One of the best ways to combat the chattering lack of common sense is to engage with the physical world. Fix a leaky faucet. Grow a tomato. Walk without headphones. These activities have immediate, unyielding feedback loops. If you don't use common sense when fixing a pipe, you get wet. The physical world doesn't care about your chatter. It doesn't care about your "take." It only cares if the job is done right.
We also need to stop rewarding the loudest voices. In the attention economy, the most nonsensical takes often get the most engagement because they are outrageous. By engaging with them—even to mock them—we’re contributing to the noise.
Sometimes, the most "sensible" thing you can do is just shut up and observe.
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Practical Steps for a Sane Life
- Implement a 24-hour rule. For any major news story or social media "outrage," wait a full day before posting or forming a hard opinion. You'll be shocked at how much the "facts" change in 24 hours.
- Talk to people outside your bubble. Not to debate them, but to see how they solve everyday problems. You’ll realize that common sense looks different in a machine shop than it does in a marketing agency, but the underlying pragmatism is the same.
- Read old books. Seriously. Read things written before the internet existed. You’ll see that humans have been dealing with the same basic issues for thousands of years, and the "common sense" of 100 years ago is often more robust than the "expert advice" of today.
- Audit your "experts." If someone is constantly making "bold predictions" that never come true, stop listening to them. Common sense is about results, not rhetoric.
- Practice "Steel-manning." Before you dismiss an idea as "nonsense," try to build the strongest possible version of that argument. If it still falls apart, then you’ve used your judgment rather than just your "chatter."
Ultimately, reclaiming common sense is an act of rebellion. It’s a refusal to be swept up in the frantic, shallow, and often contradictory noise of the modern world. It’s about trusting your own eyes and ears again. It’s about realizing that just because everyone is talking doesn't mean anyone is saying anything worth hearing.
The chattering lack of common sense is a choice. You can choose to stop chattering and start thinking. It’s quieter over here, and honestly, the view is a lot clearer.
Actionable Insight: Start a "Reality Log"
For one week, keep a small notebook. Every time you see a "take" online or hear a claim that feels slightly "off" to your gut, write it down. At the end of the week, look back and see which ones were actually true and which ones were just noise. This simple practice helps recalibrate your internal "BS detector" and pulls you out of the chatter.