If you had the ability to hear people's thoughts, would you use it?

I would… I’m hopelessly curious about just about everything… especially things I can’t really know. At least, I think I would. Sometimes I wish I could, actually… but I guess I haven’t really thought about possible downsides….
But when someone gives me a compliment—‘nice earrings!’ or whatever, I want to know… is that because you couldn’t think of anything else nice to say? Or because you really like the earrings? Or because you feel like you have to be nice to me? Or because you’re looking for me to compliment you back?... That’s just a random example. But there’re so many possibilities for everything anyone says! What do they really mean?... do you wonder? Do you want to know?

And would your answer be different if you couldn’t ever turn the ‘power’ off?