I don’t know if this is a teenage thing, but my daughter keeps saying I KNOW for a while, every time I tell her something. Or if I see that she crosses her line I say something to her and she says in an agitated tone, I KNOW!
One day, I scolded her for using too much Instagram data when she was away (it was an ongoing problem). You can have unlimited wifi at home, so you just have to wait until you get home. Of course, she replied I KNOW, sorry, just to cut me off.
I responded immediately: It is not enough to say sorry, You say sorry all the time but you still don’t do the right thing. If you really mean it, then do the right thing and know that you really mean it. Also, saying I KNOW only makes you dumb because you will turn people away and stop learning and listening because you think you know when you don’t. And you don’t even know why I’m restricting your data usage.
From that day on, she has not been liberal. with her I KNOW! This is my teenage daughter and I am here to guide her, for which I am grateful. But she is just a mild example of someone who has I KNOW syndrome.
In our information age, How many adults have you known with I KNOW syndrome? It’s amazing. I come across at least one syndrome that I KNOW about once every two days.
Why do people say I know when they don’t? It’s because the Internet dispenses information like sugar in a candy store. Most people devour the information as if it were biblical truth. Information is just information. Information is not wisdom. Information does not make you smarter. Information certainly doesn’t offer much guidance when it comes to living life fully.
This is the same as people who have a cell phone. phone camera thinking that they have become professional photographers. Or buy a graphic design app and think they have become graphic designers. How arrogant has the human mind become!
I have witnessed that those who often say I KNOW are usually the ones that are stuck, haven’t developed further on their path, have become stale and frustrated. It is that they do not realize that they have become their worst enemy because of their arrogance.
I have always liked open people to learn no matter how old they are! Some of my best clients are those who many would consider to have reached the age of wisdom and yet are so open to learning. They are not afraid to sound silly with their questions, because they have a genuine desire to learn in their quest for personal development.
The I KNOW syndrome makes us believe that we have all knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is wisdom only when information and knowledge are internalized to make them real. We have to apply the information to make it real. The Internet offers information only for your reading pleasure, it does not make it real for you in your life.
So watch out for the I KNOW syndrome, and watch out that it doesn’t lead you down the path of foolishness, it could cost you your inner peace and long-term happiness.
