Maybe this is a good thing, being in touch with my averageness frees me from being a pretend academic and focus on getting as much practice as possible to sharpen procedural skills.

Also it gives me a keen sensitivity to roadblocks other average people come across, which is an advantage for developing a product, an interface that fits them well.

Makes me better appreciate the pov that all interfaces are assistive technologies (badly designed assistive tech or good that depends), a cognitive prosthetic.

being humbled is never a bad thing. Don’t worry, you aren’t alone in being human. We all are.

Thanks, what was your experience of being humbled like?

missing context.

I think you should feel good about yourself as far as I can see. How many look for and read the research, outside of academia?

Very few, I've noticed mostly people at very senior levels or ones that do consulting work

then you deserve to feel good about doing that.

I feel good about the effort I put into understanding psych myths, even though it is of little benefit. You don’t become popular bursting the bubble around the hungry judges or Dunbars number.