“Babies Below 6 Months Shouldn’t Drink Water”: 50 Facts That Really Should Be Common Knowledge

Bored Panda wanted to get Professor Geher's thoughts on the evolutionary perspective behind embarrassment at one's knowledge gaps. 

"In so many ways part of the human social experience pertains to seeking some sort of status within a group," he said.

"If you're the one who does not know what others see as 'common knowledge,' this fact might not bear well for your social standing as you might not come off as that smart," Dr. Geher told us via email.

"For this reason, people are often hesitant to admit that they don't know something that everyone else seems to know."

We were also curious whether it's actually easier to survive in the 21st century compared to life a long time ago,, especially in developed countries. According to Dr. Geher, from the State University of New York at New Paltz, it's not as clear-cut as someone might think.

"In some ways, living is easier these days relative to our ancestral, nomadic past. For instance, searching for food nowadays often involves opening one's refrigerator as opposed to going out for a 6-hour hunt," he explained to Bored Panda.

"That said, many features of the modern world are sorely mismatched from ancestral conditions and for this reason, the modern 'conveniences' often come back to harm us. So we might be able to eat lots of cheap processed foods easily and cheaply, but this fact may come back to haunt us later in life in the form of a number of health problems such as Type-II diabetes."

The professor had some suggestions on how someone might go about filling in their knowledge gaps in the 21st century. "Learning about our evolved psychology and evolutionary past is often a good start. Understanding that humans evolved to live in small groups of familiar others under nomadic conditions can help us go a long way toward understanding the broader human experience," Professor Geher said.

"I often say that to succeed in the modern day, it is often best to try to simulate ancestral conditions as much as possible. So, for instance, if you live in a large city of hundreds of thousands of people, it would be wise to form some smaller social groups that better resemble the small nomadic groups that characterized human social organization for the lion's share of human evolutionary history."

It’s completely natural to have some knowledge gaps, even when it comes to ‘basic’ knowledge. Some people specialize in certain areas and can be completely ignorant in others. Meanwhile, other individuals might simply lack the education—or the time, money, and opportunities to plug those gaps. 

Whatever the case, many people tend to create the illusion that they’re very knowledgeable. However, if something happens where they’re forced to admit to others and themselves that they may not be as smart as they thought they were, the person might get incredibly embarrassed.

After all, it’s not a great feeling to realize that you were ignorant about something that seemingly ‘everyone’ around you already knew. What’s important to understand here is that you’re not alone in this. Sooner or later, everyone’s faced with facts they either didn’t know or had misinterpreted.

The best way to deal with embarrassing yourself in public, whether due to your lack of knowledge or anything else, is to embrace those somewhat uncomfortable feelings. As we’ve covered on Bored Panda before, the healthy way to react is to show mild embarrassment because it makes you seem more down to earth. Meanwhile pretending you didn’t make a mistake or getting angry about the whole situation is unhealthy and can turn your embarrassment about your (lack of) knowledge into deep-rooted shame.

The best way to deal with serious knowledge gaps is to carve out even a little bit of time every day to learn more about the topic. If it’s something that affects your career, schoolwork, or daily life, it only makes sense to make it a priority. However, it can be hard to do this if you’re working full time, have a family to take care of, and have a bunch of other responsibilities.

That’s why it’s important to focus on the idea that spending even just a little bit of time on something is better than none. Even 15 minutes of reading up on a subject you know nothing about is miles better than putting it off ‘until next week’ when you hope to have several free hours or feel more motivated.

Verywell Mind notes that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit. So incremental effort pays off, so long as you stay consistent. And though it really does help if you have the money for a proper education, it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn new things even if you’re struggling financially. 

There are countless free resources available on the internet. In the meantime, if you have a public library in your local area, then you’ve got access to countless books, teaching materials, and videos as well. There are also free online courses you can sign up to that can help you raise your confidence and improve your knowledge.