It\u2019s needless to say that social media plays a crucial role in our life today. We are so used to checking our Facebook feed and our friends\u2019 updates on Instagram that we can\u2019t imagine ourselves without these things.<\/p>\n
Still, the need to stay constantly connected<\/a> and share our news with the world isn\u2019t simply a part of our lives. It\u2019s also changed the way we think, making us fall victim to different illusions and cognitive distortions.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to focus on one of those\u2013the illusory need to have an opinion about everything.<\/p>\n Let me ask you a few questions:<\/p>\n Unless you are extremely erudite, you will most likely answer \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d to some or all of these questions.<\/p>\n You see? You are not ashamed to admit that you don\u2019t know something. And it\u2019s not a shame at all\u2013we can\u2019t know everything<\/a>. After all, we are here to learn and evolve.<\/p>\n Sadly, we often neglect this simply truth and fall into the illusion that we need <\/em>to have an opinion when it comes to trending topics.<\/p>\n Now, let me ask you a few more questions:<\/p>\n Here, you will most likely have an answer to give to each of these questions.<\/p>\n But now ask yourself, how much do you actually know about these topics? Unless you have a vast knowledge of politics, economics, or immunology, you probably know about these things on a very superficial level.<\/p>\n Yet, you are certain about what your opinion is.<\/p>\n So, why were your answers so different? You said \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d to the first set of questions, and yet, you answered the second sets of questions with a high degree of certainty.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n This is where we come to the essence of the illusion I\u2019m talking about. A constant connection<\/a> to social media and the Internet fools us into believing that we need<\/em> to have an opinion about everything. Moreover, that our opinions matter<\/em>.<\/p>\n You write a post and your Facebook friends react to it. You upload a selfie with a political message on your Instagram and people comment. It feels like what you say is important.<\/p>\n In reality, it\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n Your opinion matters as long as you talk about your life and the things you know about. If you just follow the hype but have a superficial knowledge of the subject, your opinion doesn\u2019t matter because it brings no value<\/strong>.\u00a0If you haven\u2019t studied and analyzed the problem in depth, you just repeat what you heard from others, read online, or saw on TV<\/strong>.<\/p>\n However, it’s understandable why most people think that their opinion matters and expressing it is important. This is what everyone does. This topic is everywhere on the news and the Internet, so you gotta contribute and say something too, right?<\/p>\n It\u2019s nothing but an illusion.<\/p>\n It may be difficult to accept this truth because in our age of constant connection, it feels weird to stay away from the hype and not say anything.\u00a0Social media is here<\/a>\u00a0so that we express ourselves, right?<\/p>\n In reality, you don’t need to have an opinion about everything. It\u2019s okay to stay away from trending topics and not have any opinion at all. It\u2019s okay to not say anything.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to take sides and form points of view about the subjects you know nothing about, especially if they lie outside of your area of interest. It\u2019s not a shame to say \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d or “I’m not sure” when someone asks you about a trending political or social issue.<\/p>\nLet me demonstrate this illusion in action<\/h2>\n
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The illusion of having an opinion about everything<\/h2>\n