What do we know?  How do we know it?  Do we know how to 'know'?  Well, the answers to those questions can be answered very simply.  What are your answers?  My answer to those questions are this; 1) We know quite a bit; we ignore WAY TOO much.  2) We know what we know by experience.  Our environment we grew up in dictates to us what we are and what we are to become.  3)  One word: NO. 
In our world today we often overlook the most simplest answers and complicate the situations we encounter.  We think we know when, in fact, we really don't know.  Our experiences give the view that we need to see what's happening and our knowledge helps us interpret those things we see.  Our lives generally are lived on 'auto pilot'. 
If people really wanted to interact with their surroundings they would become more aware of those things that are in their environment.  Life is what life is; you get out of it what you put into it.  What we do for ourselves, or our loved ones or friends or co-workers, we do out of the necessity to survive.  Our knowledge of our surroundings will assist in that.
When we ignore the very basics of life and ignore the need we have to learn something new we limit our knowledge of those things that stare us in the face everyday.  At one point our need to survive will out weigh our need for baubles and trinkets we believe we need to look as though we are better than other people.  We're all human beings living in a world where the need to survive supersedes the need for knowing who is winning in sports or our need to live vicariously through someone's reality show. 
Remember that life will through us all 'curve balls' and we do get overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude and volume of what is around us.  It is our responsibility to understand what those things are that seem to drive us into seclusion and take steps to confront those things in order to push back against them in order to survive.  What do we need to do?  In a manner of speaking, we need to live.  The next steps we take may the opportunity we need to create better survival skills because It's Always Something.