Blog 4: Employment of Common Sense

Common sense is highly subjective to one’s personal experiences and what background encompasses their personalities. Common sense is not a lucky strike of the match that one is simply born with by winning the genetic lottery; it is based on learned behaviors, and as humans in this vast planet we all differ in our common sense practices based on how we have been raised, our religion, and a myriad of other societal factors that we perceive as right or wrong. In a generalization, it is safe to assume that most people in the United States have grown up with electricity and therefore know not touch it with bare wet hands; however, this common sense to us would not apply to someone who grew up as a small villager in a remote part of the world and has never experienced electricity. Conversely, the villager might have been taught vast ways to deal with wildlife that to them consists as common sense but many of us, lacking that knowledge, are simpleton to the situation. This difference in backgrounds leads to the interesting topic of communication within common sense, and given the right dialogue it can trigger a learning outcome for both parties involved.

 As a communicational asset, common sense plays a strong role in how we perceive others on what we believe is common sense, but we often overlook that our own common sense might seem thoughtless to someone with different circumstances surrounding their lives. “Such a judgment imposes one’s own experiences as a universal truth, forgetting the increasing texture in difference in the world around us” (Arnett, Fritz, and Bell. P. 63). The chances of any of us encountering a villager with no knowledge of modern technological advances wandering by themselves the streets of a major metropolitan city in the US are very slim, after all this isn’t the plot of “Jungle 2 Jungle.” Since we live in a society in which technology plays a major role in our every day lives, it is important to use our own knowledge of common sense when using social media. The many accounts of people who have been fired for not practicing common sense when approaching their online lives is unfortunate. From the employee who licked taco shells at a fast food restaurant to the teacher who posted racy photos smoking marijuana, many people have learned the hard way that their idea of common sense did not conform to that of their employers. They had to have known what they were doing, didn’t they? Surprisingly they didn’t. It seems that screens give people the false sense that they are shielded from their actions online, and they act as though they have complete anonymity and immunity, letting their own common sense slip away.

The personal narratives of people can help them form common sense and the narratives of others can further enrich one’s idea of common sense. Learning from others through observing their behaviors, or through meaningful educational dialogue of different ways of doing and knowing helps one to become a more rounded person with a broader sense of common sense. In the end common sense isn’t an innate ability, it is learned and it is something that deserves equal mutual respect when dealing with someone who may not possess the knowledge you have, but who may offer you a different insight.