Small talk is an essential skill

Sometimes you don't need to fill the silence with sounds. I'd rather be in a relationship with someone that we can sit down and be quiet together

The key to understanding is finishing the sentence.

"I hate small talk... with people I have no reason to talk to and don't care about."

I love my partner, and even when it's small talk I can listen all day, just to hear their voice and learn a little more about them, to feel closer to the person I married in many small ways.

But I don't care about what Jim at the laundry mat did last weekend, or which machine he thinks makes socks dry faster.

Its only "small talk" if you dont actually care about what the other person says. If you are genuinely interested, then its just a conversation. Thats how i see it at least.

Wife and I have a longstanding argument over whether free-will exists.

I say it does and she has no choice but to say otherwise.

I'm able to make smalltalk. I just don't enjoy it, so I avoid it when I can.

And my wife and I don't engage in smalltalk. We talk about what we actually care about. Seems to have worked fine for the past 24 years.

It's not small talk if you love the other person

We will sit in comfortable silence together.

Comfortable silence. Learn to appreciate it.

My wife is a VERY quiet person. She doesn't say a lot but when she does it's because she actually has something to say. This made me nervous when we were first dating but I've learned to embrace it. Silence is OK. She definitely talks more than she used to but we don't have to talk all the time. Sometimes she just looks at me and smiles without saying anything and in those moments I know that I am loved.

My interest in talking has more to do with who I'm talking to and less to do with the subject of conversation

Imagine going through a marriage like "how about that weather"

Extrovert cannot comprehend being quiet.

I'd like to have similar interactions with my significant other to the ones I have with my cats. You know, things like siting on the couch together... saying silly things in even sillier voices... staring into each other's eyes while blinking slowly... yelling at her to get down from the cupboard...

If my partner can't handle silence, then there's something seriously wrong. We usually have something to do and if we don't we just cuddle up. There's no need for constant noise.

Did you see that ludicrous display last night?

Pretty sure being in a long term relationship means you’ve moved on from small talk a long time ago.

I don’t want to talk with my wife about the weather, we have more important shit to worry about unless we’re literally having to dodge a tornado.

Small talk is for strangers.

What if I told you: People who hate small talk only have meaningful relationships. It’s the shallow relationships they lack.

It would be hell to come home to someone who only wanted to talk about the weather and how those jockstraps are doing.

I think there's a misconception regarding what counts as small talk. "Bland conversation that has no real point but to escape silence" is small talk. Asking you how your day went because I care about you is not. "How's the weather?" is small talk. "How was your trip to the grocery?" is small talk. These are dumb things and, if your relationship can't bear the silence that would be interrupted because "The vegan sausages were on sale today", then it prolly doesn't need to exist.

Remind me never to get into a sustained meaningful relationship then.

Idk that I really do small talk OR do philosophical conversations with my partner but I'll let you judge. Here's the sort of things me and my partner say to each other throughout the day:

• wanna play [whatever co-op we're into lately]? (Then several hours of strategy discussions)
• did you eat all the chips again you FUCKER followed by BITCH WHAT IF I DID YOU ATE ALL THE OREOS???
• If all dogs go to heaven do their people have to be there for it to be a dog heaven and does that mean hitler is in heaven because he had a dog?
• miscellaneous bitching about our jobs
• wanna fuck
• the dog pissed in the elevator again it's your turn to go clean it
• did you see the sweater I put the cat in?
• Debates about whether or not a taco is a hot dog or vice versa
• how many toys do you wanna get out for the fucking and more importantly how many are you willing to clean
• that book you made me read is really melodramatic but I agree it's about black mold.
• we should go visit the hot tub vs no it's too fucking cold vs that is the point of it being a HOT tub
• wanna play cards against humanity with the cat
• debates about who will hold the cat while we trim her claws
• yelling at each other for being too loud while the other is sleeping and which offense is fundamentally more heinous (dayshifter vs nightshifter)
• discussing the biopunk visuals in lexx and how they would have made all the butthole windows out of fabric
• random nonsense words and noises like doing an entire karaoke bit but all the words are "doodoodoodoo doodley dooooot doo"
• discussions about farscape's costuming department's extensive use of bondage gear
• putting peanut butter on TOP of the dog's snout then filming her
• what if we feel like we're seeing God when we're on mushrooms because the mushrooms ARE god and we're all just fundamentally here to feed them
• blaming each other for the peanut butter thing to get the other person to clean it up
• talking about weird internet personalities like chrischan or the tile patterns guy
• calling each other old for stuff like heartburn after pizza or chronic injuries flaring up with the weather

Small talk by definition is useless drivel. I don’t build relationships on that…

In my perspective (a lonely person generally accustomed with my loneliness), small talk doesn't seem to be the problem. The problem is the lack of people's interest in deep topics, such as the aforementioned nature of reality: people either don't have the needed patience, time, or both. People are so busy running through the survival game of the mundane existence that deep topics are left for their afterlives (if there's one), when human ideologies and need for survival cease to exist. Small talk is like "sorry I got no time to think about the ultimate question of life, universe and everything else, gotta go to my modern slavery where I'm not paid to think but to obey, bye!". Deep inside, seems like a fear of becoming lonely as those that, just like me, likes to think about the depths of the reality and breaking paradigms (for example, "shouldn't we discuss how existence is so fleetingly finite in the grand scheme of cosmos and how futile is to accumulate wealth and goods?" is a granted source of loneliness).

You can talk about ideas on what to do in the bedroom or kitchen instead of the weather. My girlfriend and I talk about the nature of the universe and consciousness quite often.

I dont know how to make small talk so i just learned to make really good goat noises

My inability to carry even a basic conversation is just one of many reasons I have no plan to be in any kind of relationship, sustained or not, meaningful or not

I always took it as an early red flag that the person is way too intense and stressful to be around if every conversation has to be a do or die dynamic.

personally im a firm believer in the shut the fuck up and be quiet camp.

Who cares if you talk. If you have something to talk about, talk about it, if not, don't it's that simple.

I've seen women like that on dating apps. Claim to hate small talk, include in their bio that if you just open with "hi" they'll unmatch you, and then when you put some thought into actually writing a response, ask a leading question about their interests or what they wrote in their profile, they unmatch you anyway.

#thisiswhyyouresingle

Someone once pointed out to me that what I consider small talk might be someone else's important.

Sure it might seem like gossip or chat about the weather just for the sake of talking but it can equally be someone trying to say that they are lonely and need reassurance.

I think about that a lot and I've become a lot more tolerant. Besides, you can segue into some pretty big chat from such humble starts.

How did everyone take this post to mean that you should only do small talk with your partner and not have deeper conversations?

Ha, jokes on them! I haven't been in a relationship in about a decade and I don't see that ever changing so I don't need small talk!

...wait. Who's the joke on?

:P

They seem ritualistic social interactions. Like some bird's courtship dance except there's no relationships interest. So it's just a burden that I didn't want to participate in unless I have a genuine friendship.

This poor individual has never been in a lasting relationship.

If you can’t talk, in full, with your partner such that you somehow need small talk, that’s not a relationship, it’s a one night stand that happens to last for 3 months to a year.

but seriously free will does not exist.

Imagine having a relationship based on talking about the weather today. I talk about things I enjoy talking about. If I don't have anything to say then quiet is peaceful. 😊

How do people who don't like the color chartreuse expect to color things? Chartreuse is my favorite color!

When family/friends asks you how you are doing but don't listen to the answer that really sucks. Or they hear what they expect and make a comment that clearly means they weren't listening. Personally I found that too much of small talk is someone saying or asking something with no intention of listening. Maybe they think they are being polite or some social obligations to talk but I hate it. If I ask "How you doing?" "How's work?" I'm going to listen to your answer. If I make a comment about the weather and you comment back I will listen.

Talking philosophy is small talk.

how do people who "hate small talk" plan on being in sustained meaningful relationships

That's the neat part--I don't!

Some people view certain talk as smalltalk but im always up to know about the weather or bad traffic or anything I can avoid or indulge in if I can.

Breathe, son.

I mean, yeah? That's always been my relationships, I've only ever had pretty long-term ones.

Do y'all literally talk to your significant others about the goddamn weather or food every day?

Idk about y'all but in my current relationship I'd usually start with an in-depth analysis of some latest media I consumed or a geopolitical development, we'll be briefly reflecting upon developments in Palestine or Ukraine or UK politics or the latest on the US election while we share a couple Red Bulls and try new Elfbar flavours.

Sometimes this descends into a hearty debate on economics like whether increased taxation can raise the value of currency through demand creation (technically but it's not an effective measure), however eventually i will be pivoting into a technology I had learned about or historical context for some such, perhaps reflecting upon my cybersec exploits, relating to my independent study or my dayjob.

At some point she'd relate it to a material or technique she's been studying for her masters in material engineering, she'd remark on disliking inorganic chemistry, and we'd get into in-jokes, (latest being about Aerobiz 2000 for the Sega Genesis and my interest in the inner workings of an A320 and less than stellar business acumen) which will inevitably make us watch a video essay on YT or play a light game together like Life is Strange or HOI4 or even just listen to some music, later we'd order some Domino's Pizza and have some intimate times, a couple of nice sweet Barefoot wines and maybe a bit of Kinder Chocolate (not Bueno) for dessert later, we're asleep.

Sometimes we get nostalgic and talk about what life was like before we met on Tinder or talk about our future dreams, plans and aspirations.

I think smalltalk is okay when you're in a work meeting and you just want the coworkers to go away as soon as possible and let you get back to sleep, but I'd never date someone who is so socially inept that they would resort to smalltalk.

Quantum physics, theoretical alien biology, the alleged obsolescence of battleships... Do these all count as small talk? Because this is the stuff my wife talks about with me.

I'm in this picture and my SO doesn't like it.

I tell jokes. I don't really do small talk. But, yes most conversations are deeply personal and deeply philosophical. I have lots of great friends, a lovely wife, a good job and fantastic kids. So yes, you can do just fine with almost no small talk. Become yourself, not what some unimaginative poster on the internet desperate for validation of their opinions thinks people should or shouldn't become.

Honestly, I always engage in small talk. You can hate it but I see you on a regular basis and I'm always attempting to make a connection, one day we will connect.

Ehm. Yes?

That's exactly how my wife and I do things.

Personally I think that small talk is also regional. Some places small talk might be discouraged at a store while other places it might be encouraged. The same might be for the subway, a restaurant, the bathroom, etc, depending on the country or culture it may be totally ok or exceptionally discouraged.

The weird shit in my head is not suitable for public utterance. I can give you engaging statements or appropriate statements, but one statement that is both requires far more effort.

Small talk with strangers, acquaintances, neighbors is draining even when I like those people. Those closest to me do not require appropriate statements, so with them it never feels like small talk.

Absofuckinglutely. This is what I do, and what she does, though our methods of exploration vary.

Yeah, that's pretty much how it looks like for me

Plan...?

Actually I have this kind of conversations. I don't care so much about monkey problems

I think no matter what we do most of the things are outoff our control

Yeah, that depends what you mean by small talk. I think you know what you mean, but I'm not sure that we know what you mean.

I love small talk. It's just noises that communicate emotion or very basic information, and it has a script!

I wish I knew why small talk is important and why the example in the post is a problem. It would be helpful if someone could explain it.

If you can question free will, you have free will.

Of course they dont say stuff like that.

Great thinkers have been telling us that free will is an illusion for decades.

I mean, that would be ridiculous......

Its me, they're talking about me aren't they?

Sorry, what i meant to say was, I think there's always at least two ways to go about things and, whatever side you fall on, you just have to follow your truth because, ultimately, you have to be true to yourself. I think thats all you can do really because, if you're not being true to yourself, then you're living a lie.

So, you've just got to do what you've got to do because, at the end of the day, it is what it is and that's not going to change anytime soon.

I've heard some people talking about not being able to sustain meaningful relationships. Well, I don't know much about that. But what I do know is that I enjoy the freedom of doing things my way and to just be me. If being against me not being me is wrong, then I don't think I want to want to be right.

Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted of is it still "too big" for you, John?

Small talk stinks
Small talk stinks
See the young man in his new gown
Talking up to his bouffant drag
He says he loves you with flowers
Something that he's never had
A sentence should be like a serpent
Quick with a sting in its tail
        -bauhaus, Small Talk Stinks

You need small talk to find the big talk.

free press

Have to pay for it

Get real

haha I just small talk to appease social standards. In my ideal reality, intelligent beings are creating and doing greater things themselves every day and viewing it like a wasted day if they have not. I could, right now, talk about my design decisions I'm coding in to this editor today and what some of the plans are for it as of now. I wouldn't talk about Why I'm focusing on the editor before the game because I've already been over that so there would be little gain for the ultimate quality of what I'm making in that conversation. And, with my ideal type of person, the conversation could easily drift in to what groundbreaking realms they are in too. It should be like this every day for an individual to be considered healthy. Comparatively, small talk is a waste meant to give vocalization options to beings fulfilling low to medium potential roles that cannot enter any realm of novelty themselves ~followers that cannot be waymakers. I know I say this in a realm of 90% people who are just fulfilling a low potential role while otherwise 'passing the time', just like the person in the post. So downvote me. You know it's true tho and it isn't the smalltalkers who are the next feynmans, einsteins, etc. Where do you aim for yourself? 'passing the time' 'smalltalk' level or higher?

I have a meme answer to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn51xYvJhQI

I’m not going to be in a relationship with anyone who thinks “freewill” is a word.