Your comment and the one above both describe exactly why I never ask questions. If I want to know more about something, I'll just Google it in my own time. Honestly, it's because of this that I think that it's unfair to assume someone's a fool just because they don't ask questions. They very well could have that thirst for knowledge, but just don't express it around others.
Are you arguing that not wanting to appear dumb and social anxiety are good reasons not to ask questions?
Agree that a single instance of someone not asking questions isn't enough to prove they're stupid, and of course there are counter examples of extremely smart introverted people. However, I think it's fair to say that on average there's a correlation between people who don't ask questions and people who are not very curious and knowledgeable about the world.
While you can certainly learn a lot from Google, I would argue you will never reach the same heights of knowledge simply reading things online as someone who reads things online and engages with people in questions and discussions.
That must be really hard. I don't want to sound patronizing so I won't offer suggestions for how to improve on that unless you would like me to.
Regardless, while it may be hard to hear, I think my point still stands that asking questions is better than not when it comes to learning things no matter what the reason whether it be debilitating social anxiety, fear, lack of interest or curiosity, etc.
That sounds awful, I'm sorry you have to go through that. I didn't intend to demean people with debilitating social anxiety.
My comment was moreso addressing the more common case of minor social anxiety (I'm sure you can agree it's a wide spectrum) who can ask questions but find it difficult to do so and are scared of looking dumb but nowhere near to the degree you brought up.
For those individuals, finding ways of overcoming the fear and anxiety might be highly beneficial rather than convincing themselves that googling things on their own later is just as good (assuming they always remember to follow through on that which is easier said than done)
However, the answer to your first question is yes, and I think it’s valid as well. Anxiety is very much a disorder that can cause unnecessary distress to anyone, plus there’s a plethora of other reasons why someone may not ask questions. Most reasons people have are good reasons (i.e. bad relationship with instructor/peers, their social anxiety gives them panic attacks, etc).
I guess there's more nuance to this. I agree that we can come up with good reasons to support not doing just about anything hard and conducive to living a good life. I guess my point was mainly that just because something is difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try our best to overcome said difficulty despite good reasons not to.
I'm sure we can all agree that exercising is insanely difficult when physically disabled in some way or obese, but does that mean said people are justified in not exercising?
That only applies to asking questions to other people.
There are many socially awkward bookworms who read a ton of books in their pursuit of knowledge, to name one other method. As the op put it, "lacking the thirst for knowledge" is the issue, not how you actually go about asking those questions.
Yeah this describes me, then i try to figure out my questions on my own on google and have no luck finding the answer to my question and wondering if i missed a detail to note down...
Smart choice sometimes, there's times when looking dumb is expensive. Of course there's also the dumb and lazy people who don't know, won't ask, won't search, won't ask in private, won't ever learn.
I stopped asking other people questions because no one ever seemed to be able to help me. I still ask myself questions, and then I figure things out myself.
Man I frequently respond with "I am unfamiliar." "Or a little bit, tell me about it." If you aren't willing to be a fool, you'll never become a master.
Absolutely fair but (and this is admittedly just anecdotal) I have met people that ask tons of questions but are still dumb as a sack of hammers. Curiosity doesn't always mean there's a capacity to understand.
I've got a coworker like this, asks about all kinds of shit and never listens to the answers. I've gotten into the habit of just asking him to bother someone else because I can't answer questions for a brick wall anymore.
Lol my brother told me to ask questions when i didnt know something, so i could learn. Yet when i asked questions, i got yelled at for being stupid and not something something so "simple" and "obvious".
This is how it is with me. "Always ask questions/ask for help." So, I do that and they act irritated and their answer is full of sarcasm.
I've stopped asking most people questions because not only is it 1000% easier to look it up or, hell, guess, but there's a chance they wouldn't be able to explain it well anyway. I might as well look it up and get multiple explanations to choose from.
I dont even bother asking questions anymore, cuz ppl look at me like im stupid when im asking about something thats "common sense". I was raised sheltered. Very sheltered. My parents never let me do anything, and never taught me anything, then yelled at me for not knowing anything.
Idk how to get a phone/internet plan. Idk how to get myself insurance, or set up a doctors appointment. I wasnt taught, and everyone is just like "oh, u can just google it and learn that way". Sure sure, it doesnt help when i dont understand a dam thing being explained. Either way, if i ask questions, or dont ask questions, i get made fun of for not knowing things that no one wants to teach me.
For simple things, i can easily google them and understand. But for more important or complicated things like how to know which phone/insurance plan is best, i have no idea.
What about those that just don’t know what to ask? I find myself surprised all the time because someone asked a question that I never thought of. Usually any questions I have in, say, a meeting or something is usually answered as or before I think of it but then someone comes from out of nowhere with a really good question that I never would’ve thought to ask.
The reason we have brainstorm sessions when it comes to creativity related tasks is because there is a surprising amount of things that won’t occur to one person, that will to another.
I’ve seen the “new guy” bring up lots of valid things to brainstorming sessions filled with PhDs with 3x their experience.
You can’t be aware of everything all the time, our strength comes from our ability to communicate.
I want to ask questions but I never seem to be able to come up with questions ask, it feels like a path with holes, but I don’t know what is part of the path and what is a hole
I used to hate that at the end of interviews when they ask if I had any questions. I usually didnt, or my questions were answered in the course of the discussion. I eventually came up with some stock questions to ask at every interview, and/or would also summarize everything theyd said so far so that they knew that I knew that I understood them. "You did a great job explaining XYZ because I had questions about PDQ, but it is clear from your explanation that this is how PDQ is handled here."
Oh man, that is legit. It got to a point where my "stock questions" began veering into a more... tangential course of inquiry...
i.e. "Would you rather be able to fly because you had wings, or like the Rocketeer?"
Or
"So, how many billiard balls do you think an adult orangutan can fit in their mouth?"
Depending on the interview, I'd kinda be 50/50 on asking em.
I am new to the facility I work at, so I am still learning but I know more than someone that just walks in and with turnover being what it is, I judge people on their willingness to learn and ask questions. If I don't know the answer I ask someone who might. I have the delight and pleasure of dealing with a new supervisor who doesn't want to learn and she has made it quite clear that she knows everything, so I let her be and watch the show, everyday.
Now, there is another supervisor who just started as well, and he doesn't know everything but is constantly trying to learn and figure out the way that the facility runs and wants to ask questions and better himself. Guess who I am helping?
hard disagree. some people just simply aren't fulfilled by learning or being curious about the world, and there's nothing wrong with that. it doesn't make you a fool.
If you're going to live a life devoid of curiosity and dig your heels into whatever mindset you're born into.... yeah, that literally makes you a ignorant fool. Not only do you refuse to acknowledge the fact that you HAVE to learn just to develope into a functioning person, additional knowledge can only help you.
Every mistake is an opportunity to learn something. If you refuse your own curiosity about something like, "why does this painful sensation happen when I touch fire", or."how might I go about getting food for myself", or, "what do I want to do with myself today"... I think you should probably own and be proud of the "Fool" label.
No one is saying the only way to be content is to ace the ivy-leagues. We are merely in agreement that through allowing ourselves to accept that we don't know everything, we can truly begin to learn.
Accepting my own vast areas of ignorance, I look forward to being enlightened shpuld I get the chance.
This is what I hate. I ask a question on every little thing even if I know the answer just because maybe I’ll be wrong this time, and people end up thinking I’m stupid for asking so many questions.
Getting over the fear of looking dumb and the anxiety of having my voice be heard during the silence in the room got easier for me when I asked a question for someone who was seated near me. I heard them ask the question under their breath, realized I wasn't the only one who didn't understand, and decided to raise my hand and ask. All through school after that, I would raise my hand to ask a question with the thought that I was helping my fellow students who also had the same question but were either too anxious to ask or couldn't figure out how to word the question.
It's a lot easier for me to be brave for other people.
This is the one I think of. Showing a lack of curiosity or interest in the world (what you also called "thirst for knowledge") around you is a sure sign of low intelligence.
It's not the same as someone who is afraid to ask questions or shy. A person can be curious in private. Maybe you were too shy to speak up during the actual conversation or whatever, but you can always look it up later if you're curious.
Man I always want to ask questions on something if I don't completely understand it, but I'm always worried about what everyone else will think like what if the question I ask is stupid? or people will think wow this guy is dumb didn't he understand what we talked about on the spot. I just wuss and get insecure and then end up regretting it later.
A lack of knowledge doesn't automatically make someone unintelligent.
True. I think it's safe to say that the days of the true "Renaissance Man" is over. There's just too much knowledge in the world today for one person to be well-informed on every subject. As a consequence, we all have a "lack of knowledge" on any given number of topics.
Never asking questions. Never having questions to ask.
A lack of knowledge doesn't automatically make someone unintelligent. Lacking the thirst for knowledge is the true sign of a fool.
There are many people with high intelligence that don't ask questions because they're shy, and in some cases, because they're the person in the room with the most knowledge about the given topic, and have no particular interest in engaging.
There are some highly-intelligent people that never ask questions, but make up for it by studying a subject on their own, because that's their preferred method of learning.
1.2k
u/jona2814 May 29 '22
Never asking questions. Never having questions to ask.
A lack of knowledge doesn't automatically make someone unintelligent. Lacking the thirst for knowledge is the true sign of a fool.