We often say, “It’s just common sense.”

Yet somewhere along the way, common sense became about as common as an empty inbox.

People forget appointments they entered three times. They stand in the grocery aisle, paralyzed by thirty-seven brands of pasta sauce. They spend twenty minutes researching the “best” notebook only to abandon the purchase altogether. We have more information than any generation in history, yet many of us feel less certain about everyday decisions.

It isn’t because we’re becoming less intelligent. It’s because we’re becoming cognitively overloaded.

Imagine trying to hear a violin solo in the middle of an airport terminal. The violin hasn’t become quieter. The surrounding noise has simply become louder.

Common sense works much the same way.

It isn’t gone. It’s being drowned out.

The Brain Was Never Designed for This

The human brain is extraordinary, but it evolved to solve a very different set of problems.

For most of human history, our ancestors weren’t deciding between seventeen streaming services, forty career paths, five hundred toothpaste options, and an endless feed of conflicting opinions from strangers around the globe. They were asking far simpler questions:

Is that rustling bush a predator?

Can we trust this person?

Where will we find food tomorrow?

Our brains became incredibly efficient at prioritizing immediate, meaningful decisions. What they never evolved to handle was an environment where every waking moment demands attention.

Today, our attention has become the world’s most valuable currency. Every notification, headline, advertisement, email, breaking news alert, social media post, podcast recommendation, and AI-generated summary is competing for one finite resource:

Your mental bandwidth.

Unlike your phone battery, however, your brain doesn’t display a warning when it’s operating at two percent. It simply feels like life has become harder.

Decision Fatigue Is Quietly Running Your Life

(Continue reading “Common Sense Isn’t Common Anymore—Here’s Why” on Substack, published 6/19/26.)

I’m Dr. Jill Fandrich, author of The Missing Variable. I write for readers who believe clarity isn’t found by avoiding complexity, but by learning how to look at it differently.

Until next time, keep the lens clean.