Chatting with others outside our usual sphere, even for a few seconds, makes us smarter -- and happier.
"Transitory connections are good for all of us, as people and as a nation. In-person encounters allow us to experience life from others’ perspective. As journalist Joe Keohane put it in his recent book, The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World, talking to strangers, even for a few seconds, makes us 'better, smarter, and happier people.'
"Keohane documents in painstaking detail how more connections, even brief ones, made with people we don’t really know — think postal workers and baristas — enhance our daily contentment."
"...But these interactions were declining even before the pandemic. The age of social media and inequality is not a friendly one."
"Yet connections are something humans crave and whose absence we notice, even when the relationships that lapse weren’t particularly close. (Personally, I’ve long been convinced that the modern obsession with dogs — one I proudly share — is partly about our need for human connection and a way of obtaining it. Anyone who walks a dog regularly knows that the query 'Friendly?' checks both human and canine temperament.)"
"...Loneliness surged during the pandemic, and so did reports of depression. The sense of malaise, sadness and anger in some quarters, even as society lurches back, is almost certainly related, at least in part, to our continued lack of in-person connections. Here’s a thought: Try speaking with strangers and casual acquaintances again. It can offer a quick pick-me-up in the near term — and might help reduce broader tensions."
Article: We’ve Stopped Talking to Strangers. Here’s Why We Should Start Again.