Critical consciousness. What does that mean? The term developed by educational theorist Paulo Freire is a popular term heard all around the liberal arts campus of Rollins College. Majors that have a strict emphasis on social entrepreneurship or critical culture hear this term almost everyday. However, if you're a freshman or perhaps a Bio or Business major you may have heard the term just in passing.

What it means to be critically conscious is (in it's most stripped down form) that you seek to achieve the best insight into how the world around you works, and to use that knowledge to expose social, political, and economic injustices with the intention of taking action against it.

But once you take the dive to becoming critically conscious, you basically can never go back. It "ruins" things for you, because you know too much and can't always enjoy the "simple things in life" without thinking about how this affects us as a culture. Ignorance is bliss.

I encourage everyone to take the dive, but just be well aware that in everyday life you'll probably experience this:

1. You can't watch a movie in peace.

"You call this diversity?! Why does every girl in here look like a sidepiece to the male hero?! What is this teaching our young people of today!?"

2. You're disappointed in yourself when you contribute to the system.

Can that girl's skirt get any shorter? Oh my god, did I just say that?

"Hey! You go girl! Don't conform to the standards of our society!"

3. Your non-conscious friends start to get annoyed.

"You realize paying for that Fifty Shades of Grey movie ticket is your stamp of approval for a promotion of a glorified, romanticized rape culture?"

4. It's hard to enjoy hip-hop music.

Or any type of mainstream music for that reason. Why do songs about b*tches and hoes have to sound so good?!

5. Going to the mall makes you feel kind of guilty.

I am in the heart of capitalism. I only want new clothes because society tells me I do.

6. You can't help but promote your consciousness.

"You should really take this Sociological Theory course, it changed my life."

7. You've probably blogged somewhere -- and by blog I meant rant.

What is this Facebook comment?! You obviously missed the whole f*cking point of the article! I'm going to post about this on my Tumblr!

8. You're often heard shouting things at "inappropriate" times.

"Hello class, today we're going to be talking about feminism and it's impact on the world."

"SMASH THE PARTRIARCHY!!"

So whether you're already critically conscious, or are just getting into it, you can probably identify with over half of these signs. However, just because we can't enjoy "nice" things doesn't mean we should stay intellectually in the dark.

Go forth, fight for justice, defy social norms, end prejudices, and smash the patriarchy!