Common sense is not common. We all know that.
But what we probably did not know is that common sense can actually also be incorrect. Your gut feeling might not be the best thing to follow in a given moment.
Or else, you might just have your common sense straight up wrong. But regardless of that, you follow it, and end up flat on your face.
u/VigilantMike asked:
What "common sense" is actually wrong?
Here were some of the answers.
The Opposite Of Natural
GiphyYou hold your breath if you run out of air while scuba diving.
Wrong, your lungs will explode as you'll float upwards with a lungful of air (and you probably will try to surface anyway) and the air inside them expands.
The proper procedure is to scream all the way up to make sure your airways are open. AaaaaAaaaAaaaAAAaaaAAAA
Go Further In
When I worked in spectator event safety, we learned (sport stadia) that when an evacuation is happening, the safest place to go to is the playing field. As it is usually open air and therefore low risk if it is a fire evacuation.
However common sense takes over crowd dynamics and people try leaving the way they came in (from the other side of the building), so this common sense trait results in thousands of people flocking into burning buildings.
An example of this was the Bradford City stadium fire, a huge chunk of the crowd headed back into the burning stadium looking for exits despite open air (the pitch) being metres in front of them.
Healthy Practice
"Don't go to bed angry"
Umm... me and my husband ignoring this rule has saved our marriage. Do you know how many stupid fights are caused by being tired?
Act Faster
Do not, EVER, wait 24 hours before filing a missing persons report. If you have a reasonable suspicion that something happened to someone, call immediately!
I have to say that this was eye-opening for me too. When my elderly dad didn't return for hours from what was supposed to be a routine jogging exercise on a very hot day, I called the police. They IMMEDIATELY filed a missing persons report so that a patrol car could start looking for him.
He was ok. He'd just gotten lost.
Despite all the bad press coverage these days about misbehaving police, I love our local police force. They do it how EVERYONE should do it. Someone who you can rely on in times of need, rather than an enemy to be feared.
Dentist Tips
The harder you brush the cleaner your teeth get. All you're gonna do is cause gum recession.
EDIT: I guess this is a good platform to share dental hygiene tips. Brush with a soft bristle brush for 2-3 minutes. Don't do side-to-side motion - make small circles on the surfaces of the teeth, flick away from the gum line with short strokes, and vibrate the toothbrush near the gum line at a 45 degree angle from the tooth. Electric toothbrushes are great - they're less technique sensitive and you just hold it over a tooth for 5-10 seconds without back and forth motion. Don't stick your toothbrush near your toilet for obvious (yet never thought about) reasons.
Don't Solidify The Grease
Running hot water to pour grease down the sink drain. That water always cools eventually, and usually the same distance down the drain, where it solidifies, creating a blockage. Although IT'S BEST TO NEVER PUT GREASE DOWN THE DRAIN, if you run cold water, and run the garbage disposal, the grease will solidify when it hits the cold water, the disposal will chop it into tiny pieces, and it will float down the line, creating no blockage.
Nobody Likes To Be Hangry
That people are good eye witnesses.
We aren't. Our perception of things sucks. We are prone to so many biases that we aren't even aware of. If I grade papers on an empty stomach, I will grade them lower than if I am not hungry.
And I will never admit that to be true. Even though it is.
New Nutrition!
A lot of nutrition "common sense" is based on nothing, and/or has never been proven. I chalk it up to the fact that the human body is more adaptable than anyone gives it credit for, and that goes for diet as well as a lot of other things. That, and people think they can find solutions through dietary inclusions/exclusions, or they look toward those things as something to blame health problems on.
Massachusetts Drivers, Take Note
When you see an emergency vehicle with sirens on behind you, you should always slow down and move to the lane or shoulder to your right.
This is exactly what you should do on city roads, but on the highway, you should never brake for an emergency vehicle unless they're pulling you over or you're slowing for a stopped vehicle. Braking in front of an ambulance just slows them down and creates traffic jams. Maintain your speed and get your signal on and merge as soon as you can. And for God's sakes, stop slamming on your brakes to avoid a speeding ticket when you see a cop. Just take your lead foot off the gas and slow naturally. Driving with y'all is scary.
Long Term Investments
"If you're in a relationship but develop feelings for someone else, break up with them because if you truly loved them, you wouldn't love the second person"
Bull sh*t. Don't cheat, don't have an emotional affair, but figure out what's going on in your heart and your head before throwing away a loving relationship over a crush. One size does not fit all
Editing to include some good points of clarification made by other peeps: the point of this post is to say that before you started dating your SO, you had a crush on them. You didn't know where it was going, but you started dating to find out, and it turned into a relationship. Interest is not the same as a relationship. But it's totally possible to have interest in people even when you're in a relationship, and it doesn't mean you should 100% end the relationship when this happens, because it could mean literally nothing. That's for you to decide.
Also talking to your partner is important. That's what I did when it became too confusing, and I wish I'd talked to them sooner. They're human too (right? Or aliens, I don't know you) and even if they haven't experienced it, they should understand it.
Yes, it sucks to be the SO in this situation, but it would suck more if you insisted your girlfriend of 2 years leave you because she thinks the new guy at work is cute.
What you do about your feelings is vastly more important than your feelings themselves.
Also, just so I stop getting this comment: polyamorous relationships are a thing.
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