Reasonable Doubt
When ‘Healthy’ Skepticism Really Isn’t
Too much of it can get in the way of new relationships, opportunities, and genuinely beneficial risks
Everywhere you turn, it seems, there’s someone out to screw you over: scammers trying to get your password or your credit card information, telemarketers offering “free” cruises, long-lost acquaintances pretending to care about your life to get you to buy into their multilevel marketing scheme. If you think about the sheer number of times someone tries to pull something over on you in a given week, it’s enough to make you skeptical of anyone and anything.
In a lot of ways, then, skepticism is healthy. It can keep money in your pocket, keep you out of dicey situations, and help you avoid being taken advantage of. But there’s a limit: Hone your sense of skepticism too sharply and it could start to get in the way of your relationships, your personal development, and risks that might be genuinely beneficial for you.
“It is a delicate balancing act,” says Rachel Botsman, a lecturer at Oxford’s Said Business School and the author of Who Can You Trust?, a book about the relationship between trust and technology. “Fear and disenchantment are powerful viruses that spread fast, and we can become vulnerable to being…
