7 things you do in public that instantly mark you as someone with below-average intelligence—no matter how smart you really are

These behaviors don't actually reflect how smart someone is—they reflect social awareness, impulse control, or just having a rough day. But perception matters, especially in public where strangers are writing entire stories about you based on thirty seconds of observation. Here's what tanks that assessment, fair or not.

1. Speaking unnecessarily loudly on your phone

There's a volume that says "I'm having a conversation" and another that says "I don't realize other people exist." I've been stuck near the conference-call-level phone talker, and it's jarring—not because they're loud, but because they seem genuinely unaware of the space around them.

What registers isn't rudeness—it's the inability to recognize that other people have their own experience that doesn't include hearing about dental appointments. Smart people can be loud. But sustained obliviousness to your impact reads differently.

2. Leaving your shopping cart in a parking spot

The shopping cart test has become internet shorthand for basic civic responsibility, and I get why. You don't have to return it—there's no enforcement, no penalty. Choosing to anyway requires exactly one thing: understanding that your minor convenience creates someone else's problem.

When I see an abandoned cart blocking a spot, my first thought isn't "they were in a hurry." It's "they couldn't connect action to consequence." Maybe that's unfair. But the judgment happens instantly, and it's hard to shake.

3. Arguing with service workers about policies they didn't create

I've watched someone berate a barista about a corporate return policy, and it's uncomfortable for everyone nearby. The employee didn't write the rules. They can't change them. Directing anger at them shows confusion about how organizational systems work.

It's like yelling at the thermometer because you don't like the temperature. People witnessing this don't see someone standing up for themselves. They see someone who can't identify where a problem actually comes from, which registers as a significant reasoning gap.

4. Blocking doorways or aisles while checking your phone

I've definitely been this person—stopped in a doorway, absorbed in a text, until someone clears their throat behind me. It's embarrassing because doorways are transition points. People will need to pass through them. This is predictable.

What's striking is how quickly the judgment forms. Smart people get absorbed in their phones constantly. But planting yourself in a chokepoint suggests you're not processing your surroundings at all, like you're on autopilot that doesn't include other humans.

5. Confidently stating obviously false information

We all get things wrong. But there's a difference between being mistaken and announcing fiction with total certainty. I once heard someone declare that Alaska was an island—not as a question, as a fact. The confidence was what made it so jarring.

What bothers me isn't the error. It's the lack of internal fact-checking, the absence of that small voice asking "am I sure about this?" Research on the Dunning-Kruger effect shows people with lower competence often have higher confidence. Witnessing that dynamic leaves an impression that's hard to undo.

6. Littering when a trash can is visible nearby

Dropping trash on the ground when a bin is ten feet away is such a specific choice that I struggle to explain it charitably. It's not laziness at that distance—laziness I'd understand. It's something stranger: an apparent belief that proximity doesn't matter, or that space will somehow take care of itself.

This suggests a disconnect between action and environment that's genuinely puzzling. It's like not understanding that objects continue to exist when you stop looking at them. Whether that assessment is accurate doesn't matter—the impression forms instantly, and it's not favorable.

7. Interrupting constantly without seeming to notice

I interrupt sometimes—conversations have momentum and excitement can override patience. But I usually catch myself. Chronic interruption without any apparent awareness is different. It suggests your internal experience is so dominant that tracking external conversation becomes impossible.

What makes this particularly noticeable is that conversational turn-taking is something most people develop early. Consistent failure at it as an adult reads as either a processing issue or such profound self-focus that it amounts to the same thing. People notice immediately, and it shapes everything that follows.

Final thoughts

The uncomfortable truth is that I make these judgments too. They happen in seconds and stick for hours. None of these behaviors actually measure intelligence—they measure social calibration, self-awareness, impulse control. But in public, we don't have access to someone's credentials or accomplishments. We have their behavior right now.

What's worth examining is my own certainty about these assessments. I'm capable of every one of these behaviors on a bad day, when I'm distracted or overwhelmed or just not paying attention. The gap between "doing something thoughtless" and "being fundamentally thoughtless" is enormous, but I collapse it instantly when I'm observing.

Maybe the real test is recognizing how quickly I form these judgments while knowing how unreliable they are. I'm both the person making snap assessments and the person being assessed based on my worst moments. That should inspire more humility than it usually does.