I fear consumerist culture is spreading outside of the material and leaking into the realm of the intellect. I fear we're no longer investing ourselves in the information we attain; that we're instead solely buying what others or groups of people such as governments have to sell. We're consuming ideas, facts, beliefs, thoughts - but the average individual isn't producing them. We cannot allow ourselves to strictly become customers of knowledge, buying what we cannot be bothered to understand for ourselves. We cannot starve the intellect because if we do, businesses will capitalise on profiting from intellectual commodities, and as the customer base grows, these non-tangible goods will take little to no effort to make. We'll normalise this and accept foolishness, which will stupefy the general population.
Do not doubt yourself. Explore the world. No one truly knows what's happening here, and the irony of truth is that it's subject to change. Therefore, you have as much to offer and exchange as everyone else, regardless of your academic achievements. Just invest yourself into whatever you're trying to figure out.