Yeah. I haven’t always been very comfortable with it, I made active effort to learn ways to make it easier.

I also lived in the Midwest for a while where asking someone “How are you doing” is an actual invitation to conversation and not just a response of “fine”. I learned some people are very open to chitchat with strangers, some people aren’t, and it gets pretty easy with practice to tell which is which noting body language and those first few words they respond to you with.

Also, you’re doing it now, OP. Way to go. Forum conversations like this totally count. Maybe next level up for you is some IM chatting with someone from a hobby group you’re interested in.

gestures to the site we are all using rn

All the time. I don’t know any of you!

I have conversations with strangers all the time. I believe everyone is capable of this through the power of alcohol.

yeah, no problem.

i’m a social butterfly when i’m drunk and somehow managed to transfer this skill into my sober life over the years.

i’m even pretty good at phonecalls now. those terrified me my whole life. now i often prefer them over emails/texting.

No. Between being really poor about remembering names and whether I’ve met someone before, and always being suspicious about their motives for approaching me, it never goes well.

This past summer I travelled down south and it was a strange experience - people were friendly and wanted to chat, and even be helpful, and not once was there an obvious scam. I’m too old to be discovering something like this but I’ve always been with family or friends or something, or visiting tourist spots, but this time I was wandering in “normal” places. After a week, I was finally open to small talk without suspicion, but what an experience!

Every single day. I am someone who people just really open up to. I don’t know what it is but I have the craziest conversations.

I could have a conversation with a stranger, but I would prefer not to. I don’t find silence uncomfortable and I’m perfectly happy to wait quietly.

I don’t like it when people try to chat when I’m having my hair cut, or waiting for something. Small talk is a drag and I really don’t care about any of it.

I think that’s something you can learn. It definitely takes some training. But speaking from own experience, I think I started out as an introvert and in my very fist job I had to talk to lots of random strangers each day. And I adjusted. Nowadays I can start conversations easily, do smalltalk… I mean I’m probably still the same person and sometimes I like to talk and sometimes I don’t like to open up at all. But I know what to say, how to keep a conversation going or end it if I like and it doesn’t take that much effort. And I think that makes me a bit more at ease. Knowing I have that skill available. But it certainly took me some time and effort to get there.

And I’m still not particularly good at mimicking an extroverted person. But I don’t care that much anymore. If I make mistakes, or I struggle with some conversational partner, that’s just what it is. It makes me uncomfortable. But at some point I’m going to have other problems to deal with and I’m going to forget about it.

I’m always sitting primed and ready for some random chit chat but I’m too shy to initiate. If you ever see a mid 20s male sitting alone, he more than likely would be more than happy to talk to you or anyone for that matter.

We don’t get alot of attention when not seeked out :/

Yes I can, but I don’t if I can help it. I don’t really like people. I prefer text as a medium. Unfortunately it’s not great for sarcasm.

Alcohol helps, but it’s not really a solution.

I can, yes. Do I often? I do so less now than I did when I was younger just because I’m not in as many places where random conversations would happen.

As others have said, it takes practice to be able to do that. Along with that, I’d recommend reading up on active listening. A lot of people are happy to talk if others listen.

you can, it just takes practice.

talking to people reminds me how similar everybody is and how connected we all are, regardless of what I read on the internet.

traveling, even to a different town, will make it much more likely you’ll talk to strangers

international travelers are far more gracious and interested in people as a group than any other group I know.

people anywhere, though, seem to enjoy hearing an idle idea or personal observation. a lot of people are lonely or so set in their routine that anything new is exciting, so I’ll try and say something just to let them know that somebody else has noticed they exist.

I love giving small compliments about hair or clothes, because people are invariably shocked to receive them.

Yes I can. No I don’t do it often.

I have ADHD, and struggle to remember small details or infer the same things other people do from dialogue. This means that outside of structured discussions, I struggle to maintain a conversation that interests others most of the time. My friends are the ones who don’t make an issue of my shift between a lack of engagement or intense engagement and my completely forgetting things that other people things are extremely important like remembering names. I have had the same few friends for a couple decades because making new friends is fucking hard.

So when it comes to strangers, I tend to only have conversations a few times a year and almost always when traveling. Basically, if there is no chance of seeing them again and I have an easy out from the conversation I am comfortable starting one. Random people on public transport, in lines at restaurants, people at conferences, etc. Stick to whatever they bring up and try to keep up, consciously avoid dominating the conversation, etc. This all took a lot of practice over decades to become comfortable with and it takes a ton of work so I don’t do it often. The only reason I need to work at it is that most people think the things my brain doesn’t retain are important and that is generally what makes them think I’m not listening or participating. If I never see them again, then it isn’t important if I screw that up!

I am also an excellent presenter, and get tasked with that frequently. I don’t feel stressed in front of crowds because I practiced at it a lot and slowly became comfortable with it. For a lot of people social interaction takes practice and making ‘mistakes’ and learning that they need to adapt and not worry too much about whether the other person is enjoying the conversation, only if they give obvious signs they want to leave the conversation.

Ive heard this kind of stuff happens in my city more than other big cities. Line at the grocery store or such. It is less than it was when I was a kid and young adult though.

Yes. What’s blocking you? What circumstances are you in where you want to talk and aren’t?