Common sense and wisdom are traits that help an individual develop a fine sense of judgment. They guide people in making appropriate decisions. The extent to which these qualities are present in a person is dependent on many factors, such as social situations, personal experiences, and cultural values.
Many people erroneously think that people develop these two faculties naturally as they go through life. But the bitter fact is that there are several external influences that can deplete or even fully destroy these noble qualities. Gaining knowledge regarding aspects that gravely impact wisdom and common sense is crucial. In particular, this becomes even more relevant in this digital era, where people are bogged down by an overload of information.
Decline of Common Sense
Common sense” refers to the basic ability to make sound judgments that most people possess. Real-life experiences help people develop common sense. There are many factors that lead to a decline in common sense.
- When an individual gives excessive importance to academic education and rote learning, their common sense is likely to be affected significantly. These people usually do not focus on practical solutions for real problems; they cannot think in a logical way.
- The Indian educational system overemphasizes academic education at the cost of ignoring vocational training. This training equips a person with both common sense and practical skills. Things are now changing for the better. Efforts have started in the direction of integrating academic courses and vocational training.
- The digital era has made a huge volume of information easily accessible to people. The information includes things like misinformation and fake news, too. Many people allow themselves to get exposed to too many biased views, rumors, and toxic posts. That is leading to a weakening of wisdom and common sense.
- Generally, common sense and wisdom develop through in-person social interactions, familiarity with different viewpoints, and healthy debates. But contemporary times are marked by increased dependency on social media. And a majority of social media platforms serve only as echo chambers. Here, people access only that information which strengthens their prevalent beliefs, and some of these views can even be inaccurate. As a result, people are constantly pushed away from wisdom and common sense.
Deterioration of Wisdom
Wisdom is way bigger than common sense, for it includes pivotal facets like having an empathetic approach and arriving at proper decisions. These decisions consider both the common good of all and the long-term consequences. There are several reasons for the deterioration of wisdom, such as:
- Modern-day society gives undue importance to elements like innovations and youth. The experience of senior citizens is discounted as something obsolete. This is leading to a situation where youngsters are bereft of the wisdom imparted by elders, backed by decades of experience.
- Most of the digital media channels are presenting information in a fragmented way. This prevents them from arriving at decisions based on wisdom.
- Nowadays, instant gratification is what is sought by many; virtues like humility and patience are just discarded. These profiles will continue to remain distant from wisdom until they change their outlook.
It is high time society recognized the perils of lacking wisdom and common sense. Policymakers are required to initiate measures that safeguard people from information overload, social isolation, and fragmented learning. These measures will reverse things in the long run; people will eventually inculcate common sense and wisdom.
Living-smartly.com is a Enhancing wisdom that covers helpful topics for being wise, healthy and financially sufficient. It is a Growing common sense and has articles for living smartly on cultivating wisdom, what is niti, Niti in English and being sensible.
