“That’s How Things Work”: 45 Times People Accidentally Explained Obvious Things

Not everything needs an explanation. When we’re children, we’ll need to have some things spelled out for us because we’re learning everything from scratch, but as adults, we should be able to assume many things are common sense. Unfortunately, common sense isn’t always super common. No one knows that better than the members of the That’s How Things Work subreddit. This group, which currently has nearly 85k members, is dedicated to featuring all of those #deep posts that might make you question humanity’s sanity. Common themes on the subreddit are “Shower Thought”, "Article", and "Deep", but I have to say, Article is the most concerning to me.

Even our news sources are sometimes reporting blatantly obvious headlines, but maybe that should be obvious to me… This list makes it clear that the entire internet is full of painfully obvious statements. Social media, news sites, dating apps, and Wikipedia, we’re all capable of being Captain Obvious. But according to Portland Therapy Center, there might actually be a reason why we tend to say things that can go without saying.

“It’s so hot outside!” Of course it is, we can all feel it. So why do we feel the need to say things like this? Portland Therapy Center notes on their site that the main reason we want to state the obvious is to feel connected to others. “Language is our way of sharing understanding. In the distant past, all we had to communicate was the sound of our voices and smoke signals, and those important signals warned of war parties and resources,” Dr. Gregory Devore writes. “In today’s hyper-connected world, we now augment our reality by using email, text, phone, and social media apps to share information about just about anything.” 

Stating the obvious also makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. “When ideas are shared, creativity and action can occur,” Dr. Devore explains. “Those who are better communicators are more likely to receive support from others.” And if we don’t have support, we put ourselves at risk. So it’s perfectly natural to want to share our experiences with other humans, even if that means stating something super obvious. It’s snowing out, and you know that because you’re experiencing it too, but here’s a reminder that we’re all in this together.

Dr. Devore also notes that when we bring attention to how we’re feeling, we might work together with others to help remedy the situation. Personally, I tend to ignore something if I think I’m the only person feeling bothered. If I am freezing in my office and having trouble typing because my hands are numb, I’m not likely to bring it up. But if someone else does, I’ll suggest that we turn on the heater we have available and confirm that I feel cold as well. When you and a friend both agree that it’s hot outside, you might decide to go grab an iced coffee or stop in a café for a drink and to cool off in the air conditioning. Rather than responding with a sarcastic and dismissive response when someone states the obvious, use that as an opportunity to validate their thoughts and find a connection.

Many of the posts on this list are people who were attempting to be deep or philosophical on social media, but they ended up just stating the most obvious things. In 2019, Laura Brown published an article on Forbes discussing this exact topic titled “Trying To Sound Smart Could Be Making You Look Dumb”. She notes that for some reason, many people have the idea that if you write clearly and directly, you don’t sound as intelligent as if you use an unnecessary amount of words, particularly buzz words. But the first issue that Laura takes with that kind of writing is that not everyone will understand it. “It’s possible to get your head so deeply into jargon and convoluted language that you’re actually quite hard to understand,” she writes. Just because you’ve managed to confuse people doesn’t mean you sound intelligent.

Another issue with the kind of “eloquent business writing” that many companies try to use is that it can simply make you look bad. In fact, there’s even research to support this conclusion. Carnegie Mellon psychologist Daniel Oppenheimer wrote a paper titled “Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly” (now that’s a mouthful!), and he found that readers actually consider unnecessarily long words as less intelligent than simpler vocabulary. “It’s important to point out that this research is not about problems with using long words but about using long words needlessly,” he noted. “One thing seems certain: write as simply and plainly as possible and it’s more likely you’ll be thought of as intelligent.”

Just like trying far too hard to write in an “intelligent” way, trying way too hard to sound “deep” can certainly backfire. Pointing out the weather is a socially acceptable way of discussing what goes without saying, but when it comes to trying to explain obvious things to sound intelligent, you’re certain to get called out. But if we really want to channel someone who’s been featured on the That’s How Things Work subreddit, we could dive down the rabbit hole of, “Well, what’s obvious to one person may not be obvious to everyone else.” For example, when there are crumbs, dirt or anything else on the floor in my apartment, it makes my skin crawl. It is glaringly obvious to me, and I cannot rest until it’s been swept or vacuumed up. My former roommates, however, did not feel the same way and thought that I was crazy for seeing these crumbs with my “hawk eyes”.